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The move comes after the country's transport
ministry last week spurned Uber's proposal for a new driver
registration, and reiterated its pledge to ban Uber, which
connects passengers to private cars on their smartphones.
Uber, a tech-industry darling worth at least $41 billion, is
battling bans in South Korea, India, France and Spain for
alleged violations including using unlicensed drivers.
To begin with, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will introduce
the taxi-hailing service with 100 luxury and mid-sized sedans
each.
"We will provide a premium tax service which excels that of Uber..."
Seoul city said in its presentation material to reporters.
Seoul city will partner with taxi association to launch the
pilot service, the statement said, but did not elaborate.
The city will also promote services that connect users with
registered taxis via smartphone applications. Those services
will be launched by local companies like SK Telecom and
KakaoTalk next month.
In January, Seoul city started offering rewards of up to 1
million won ($929) for people who reported private or rented car
drivers providing transport through Uber.
In December, South Korean prosecutors indicted Uber CEO Travis
Kalanick and the company's South Korean unit for violating
transport rules which require drivers and vehicles used in taxi
services to be licensed.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
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