Finance Minister calls Tada executive arrests ‘regrettable’

Korea’s finance minister on Thursday expressed regret over a recent indictment of executives at the operator of rental van-hailing service Tada.

On Monday, prosecutors indicted Lee Jae-woong, chief executive of car-sharing app SoCar, and Park Jae-uk, CEO of SoCar’s subsidiary Value Creators & Company (VCNC), calling the app-based ride-hailing business illegal.

“It’s regrettable that [prosecutors] brought the issue to the court before win-win solutions could fully work,” Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said in a message on his Facebook page.

Lee and Park were not taken into custody. The two will face trials on charges of running a transportation business without a license.

Korea - which has an advanced information and communication technology environment - is capable of providing new mobility services that are already available in more than 65 countries, Hong said.

But he said close coordination for mutual benefit is a must in the new industry to work out the differences between relevant parties.

Yonhap