This shows the power of the taxi unions in South Korea when competitors face being thrown in jail by taking them on:

VCNC CEO Park Jae-wook poses at the office of VCNC, the operator of the van-hailing-app Tada, in Seongsu-dong, eastern Seoul. Park expressed his ambitions to transform Tada into a unicorn start-up, in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo last Friday. Tada separated from its mother company Socar last Wednesday. [VCNC]

This week is being cast as the do-or-die moment for Korean mobility services – ride sharing, van hailing and the like. It is also seen as an inflection point for the sharing economy, and more generally for innovation. 

On Monday, the National Assembly will begin discussing revisions to the transportation law that could render Tada all but illegal. It has become known as the “Tada Ban Law.”  

Another decision awaits the van-hailing service, with the Seoul Central District Court scheduled to announce its decision on Tada’s legality on Wednesday. 

Prosecutors are calling for one-year sentences for Lee Jae-woong, the CEO of Socar, and Park Jae-wook, the CEO of Tada operator VCNC, for violating the existing motor vehicle law. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

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