As South Korea seeks to attract more visitors to tap into the global popularity of K-pop, a lawmaker has warned that taxi overcharging of foreign tourists could tarnish the country’s image, with official figures pointing to a perceived lack of punishment against offenders.
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Mo Gyeong-jong cited Seoul city government data on Sunday showing only 204 of 6,481 complaints of taxi overcharging involving foreign tourists between 2021 and August this year resulted in administrative measures.
Mo told reporters that a city scheme offering a reward to people whose overcharging complaints led to penalties against errant taxi drivers has yet to pay a single cent.
The problem came under scrutiny in June when a Taiwanese tourist sparked an online controversy after alleging that he had been charged nearly 10 times the expected fare for a taxi ride from eastern Seoul to Incheon International Airport.