Anchor: Many South Korean taxi drivers left their cars parked Thursday, and took their anger over a new mobile rideshare service to the streets. Some commuters had their morning routine's disrupted as tens of thousands of taxi drivers in Seoul and surrounding areas refused to drive, and later held a protest rally in downtown Gwanghwamun.
Kurt Achin has this report.

Report: 

[Sound bite: Protest (Oct. 18/ Gwangwhamun Sqaure, Seoul)]

Corporate and private taxi drivers are expressing anger over the planned launch of Kakao T Carpool, a mobile application that pairs passengers with drivers of privately owned vehicles. 

They say the app poses a serious threat to their business, saying as many as 300-thousand drivers could face hardship. The dispute is infused with a bitter irony for the drivers, because many of them depend on a separate Kakao app that matches passengers with licensed taxis.

Goo Soo-young is head of the Korea Taxi Worker’s Union.

[Sound bite: Goo Soo-young – Chief, Korea Taxi Workers’ Union (Korean)]
“If this Kakao app gets into the taxi business, we will be cornered and hurt. The taxi industry is already struggling. We do acknowledge that Kakao has benefited taxi drivers with its taxi call app. But deciding to do the taxi business with the car pool app is at the end of the day an act of cruelty, after helping us for a while at first.” 

Goo says taxi drivers want to sit down with Kakao officials to work something out. 

But Kakao Mobility Team chief Choi Ba-da says his company is not out to destroy mom-and-pop taxi businesses. 

[Sound bite: Chief Choi Ba-da – Kakao Mobility (Korean)]
 “This is a matching service to share empty seats in cars only during rush hour or late at night, when the supply of public transportation is insufficient. We want to resolve the deficiency with this car pool service because the supply just isn’t enough, and because mobility patterns have become just as diversified as jobs and working hours.”

Many residents of Seoul and surrounding regions have known the frustration of not being able to get a cab at one time or another, and have generally been quick to adopt new mobile apps aimed at improving the situation.

Still, driving a taxi is an economic backstop, especially for many older Koreans who may have found themselves laid off or made redundant from other, more steady positions. And that means they are ready to stick together and fight hard against changes to the status quo.

Korean law forbids personal vehicles from being used as taxis for paying passengers. That law was used effectively in all but eliminating the ride-sharing service Uber from the Korean market a few years ago.  
Kurt Achin, KBS World Radio News.