LEE AND YOON TO HOLD TV DEBATE

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Two major presidential candidates, Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Suk-yeol, have agreed to hold their first televised debate before the lunar New Year holiday. In the meantime, they are introducing campaign pledges targeting ordinary people. On Friday Lee Jae-myung visited Incheon, while Yoon Suk-yeol toured Gyeongsangnam-do Province to reach out to voters.

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DP presidential nominee Lee Jae-myung has visited an aged apartment complex in Seoul that was built more than three decades ago. He apologized once again for the current administration's real estate policies and said he would ease regulations on reconstruction and redevelopment.

[Soundbite] Lee Jae-myung(DP Pres. Candidate) : "The DP's government has excessively suppressed reconstruction and redevelopment. Rather than banning reconstruction and redevelopment, they should also respect people's residential preferences."

Lee promised to create a new type of residential area with a floor space index of 500 percent, and introduce more reasonable regulations on height and safety criteria for reconstruction. Lee apparently wants to differentiate his real estate policies from those of the incumbent administration. On Friday, Lee resumed his weekly bus tours and visited the Incheon Free Economic Zone to meet with businesspeople and bakers with disabilities to discuss vocational training. PPP presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol says if he's elected president, he will scrap the plans to raise electricity fees in spring. Yoon says if electricity fees are raised, the self-employed will have to shoulder a heavier financial burden. He also blasted the Moon administration's nuclear power phase-out policies.

[Soundbite] Yoon Suk-yeol(PPP Pres. Candidate) : "The government is trying to avoid responsibility for KEPCO's losses and debt sustained due to the nuclear power phase-out policy and pass the burden of higher electricity fees to the public."

Yoon promised to overhaul the presidential office to keep its most essential functions only, and grant full authority to ministers. On Friday, Yoon attended the resolution rally of his party's Gyeongsangnam-do election committee. He will visit Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongsangnam-do Province for two days. The two major political parties have agreed to hold the first one-on-one televised policy debate of their candidates before the Lunar New Year holiday. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party is demanding a trilateral debate. The Justice Party also expressed protest.