SEOUL, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc's ( UBER )

CEO on Friday expressed commitment to the South Korean

market, where it is an underdog to local tech group Kakao

, and said the platform will attract more taxi

drivers for growth.

"The fact is that a taxi driver who uses the Uber ( UBER ) app will

make more money, will be more busy," Uber ( UBER ) CEO Dara Khosrowshahi

told reporters in Seoul.

"We are growing significantly faster than the market, and

we're confident that our market share will only grow from here."

Kakao has a more than 90% market share of taxi-hailing,

estimated based on app usage data.

Uber ( UBER ) first entered the South Korean market in 2013, but

pulled out due to regulations that only allow companies with

taxi licenses to offer ride services.

In 2021, Uber ( UBER ) re-entered the market by setting up a joint

venture with South Korea's second-largest conglomerate SK Group,

called UT.

UT's taxi-hailing service was rebranded as Uber Taxi in

March this year.

Khosrowshahi said about 20% of South Korean taxi drivers

were on the Uber Taxi platform, and that the number of

passengers grew nearly 80% year-on-year during the first half of

2024, including a more than doubling of the usage by

international travellers to South Korea since the rebranding.