SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday indicted a U.S.-based taxi service company for illegal operation, local media reported.

Uber Technology, which was founded in 2009 in San Francisco, provides a service of linking passengers to drivers through its smartphone application.

Travis Kalanick, the founder and CEO of Uber, and the head of MK Korea, a local rental-car service operator, were prosecuted without physical detention on charges of violating the country's passenger-transport law.

The law bans rental-car service operators from doing passenger- transport business. Uber signed a contract last August with the local rental-car service operator to connect rental-car drivers with passengers.

Local taxi companies have complained of such services, saying the illegal operations reduced their profits sharply.

The Seoul city government filed a lawsuit against Uber Technology last year. Kalanick appeared to a Seoul police station for questioning but did not respond to prosecutors' summons.