While Uber is banned, Kakao Taxi gets green light in South Korea

It appears that Seoul’s government doesn’t have a bone to pick with all ride booking apps, after all. While Uber – whose CEO, Travis Kalanick, was charged by Korean officials last month for not having a license to operate – is banned in the country, today authorities in South Korea approved a new taxi app that will launch soon.

Daum Kakao’s taxi hailing app, named Kakao Taxi, seems to be in the clear as it will use only registered city cabs. According to the Wall Street Journal today, the mobile messaging giant, which makes the popular KakaoTalk, signed a deal with the Seoul Taxi Association and the Korea Smart Card Corp last month, allowing it to tap into the city’s real-time data feed. This information will allow Kakao Taxi to direct drivers to where demand is, a spokeswoman for the city of Seoul says.

Kakao Taxi is set to launch in the first quarter of 2015, initially just in South Korea.

Authorities in the country had earlier last year announced that they would come up with a municipal app for taxis to be launched by December. However, this has not happened yet, though Seoul’s spokeswoman tells the Wall Street Journal that officials are “still weighing whether to push ahead with a service of their own.” That would technically compete with Kakao Taxi.

Uber’s service for licensed cabs, UberTaxi, also recruits only registered cab drivers, unlike its UberX and UberBlack services. Despite this, South Korean authorities went ahead to indict Kalanick two months after its launch. The fact that Kakao Taxi has gotten the green light might fuel speculation that anti-foreign sentiment is in play.

We have reached out to Daum Kakao and Uber for comments, and will update this article if we get a response.

Update (14 January, 10am): A representative from Daum Kakao tells Tech in Asia that Kakao Taxi’s service is fundamentally different from Uber’s:

As you probably know, the Seoul Metropolitan Government considers Uber’s current service model of using unregistered drivers/vehicles to be illegal. For Kakao Taxi, we are working with established service providers […] and all operators will be registered drivers. By working with established service providers, Kakao Taxi is hoping to offer a better way to connect drivers and passengers, resulting in a more convenient and secure experience for all parties.

(Source: The Wall Street Journal)

See: Uber finds peace in Singapore while facing brickbats in the rest of Asia