Tada Lee Jae-woong, Park Hong-geun Rebut "Comparing Spaceship and Cart?" Criticism

Park Hong-geun Rebuts, "The Essence of Tada Was Embracing Innovation Within the System"
Lee Jae-woong Responds, "We Must Reflect on the Past When Innovation Was Not Prioritized"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has sparked amplified controversy with his remark about a 'Korean version of Nvidia,' which overlaps with the so-called 'Tada Ban Law' (amendment to the Passenger Transport Service Act) previously led by the Democratic Party. Amid a direct criticism from Lee Jae-woong, former CEO of Socar and founder of Tada, who said, "You should start by reflecting," Democratic Party lawmaker Park Hong-geun, who pushed the bill at the time, rebutted by saying, "Suddenly demanding reflection is out of context." In response, Lee Jae-woong posted again to counter the rebuttal.

On the 4th, Park posted on his Facebook, "Comparing Nvidia, which leads the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, with Tada, which was a loophole taxi at the time, is as absurd as saying a spaceship and a cart are the same," rejecting Lee’s demand for 'Tada reflection.'

Earlier, Lee had posted on Facebook, "Lee Jae-myung, who wants to be president, and the Democratic Party, which holds the majority of seats, must reflect on the past when they cursed and hindered innovative companies," demanding an apology for the Tada Ban Law.

Park explained, "The essence of the Tada controversy is not about respecting innovation but about how to embrace innovation that started outside the institutional framework into the system," adding, "No matter how good the innovation is, if it is left unregulated outside the institutional framework, conflicts with existing industries are inevitable." He further criticized, "In fact, four taxi drivers even resorted to self-immolation over the Tada issue. Lee, who must have known this better than anyone, attacking the Democratic Party with an innovation frame seems more political than politicians."

He continued, "The core of the bill at the time was not to ban Tada but to have Tada enter the mobility platform ecosystem and compete," noting, "Since the law was enacted, mobility innovation has steadily grown through an accumulation process."

Park added, "Lee still cannot calm his anger as if the Democratic Party cursed innovative companies. How much more explanation is needed?" and "I hope he shows the insight of looking at the whole forest like an innovator."

Democratic Party of Korea Assemblyman Park Hong-geun Facebook

In response, Lee posted again on Facebook, "The point of this story is not that Tada was an Nvidia-level innovation at the time, but that Nvidia was also a company like Tada, working hard 10 years ago," criticizing, "Even if a company does not seem that innovative to lawmakers, if the law is changed to bring it down, it will be difficult for companies like Nvidia to emerge in our society."

Lee wrote, "If we are to nurture companies like Nvidia in Korea, we must create a more daring innovation startup ecosystem than even the United States, where Nvidia was born," and added, "I want to hear politicians say, 'We reflect that in the past we did not prioritize the innovation ecosystem highly enough. From now on, we will prioritize creating an innovation ecosystem where companies like Nvidia can emerge in Korea, lead efforts to enable more growth, and find ways for society as a whole to share the greater wealth created.'"