Travis Cordell, the CEO of Uber[Courtesy of Uber Newsroom]
The CEO of US cab-hailing app operator Uber boycotted a court hearing in South Korea Wednesday, retracting his earlier pledge to come, one and a half years after he was charged with operating an illegal taxi service.
Travis Cordell Kalanick was charged with violating a law on passenger transport service in December 2014, at the height of a hostile campaign from South Korean taxi drivers and the Seoul city government.
Kalanick, who has shrugged off a court order to stand trial, sent a letter to a Seoul district criminal court on June 2 that he would attend a hearing this week. But he changed his mind at the last moment saying he cannot come, court authorities said.
Uber launched its UberX service in Seoul in 2014 in partnership with MK Korea, a rental-car service operator but suspended its service in March last year due to stiff resistance from taxi drivers and city authorities. The Seoul city government has accused Uber of violating a law prohibiting rental-car service operators from offering taxi services.
Violators can receive a maximum two-year jail term or a fine of 20 million won (17,094 US dollars). MK Korea and its head were slapped with a fine of two million won each in June last year.
In January, Uber came back with its luxury sedan service Uber Black that allowed users to book premium taxis through a smartphone app.
Previously Seoul citizens had been barred from using Uber BLACK, which had hired drivers to operate rental cars. Under new rules, Uber registered existing taxi drivers to operate their own vehicles and pick up riders using Uber’s mobile app.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
