YOON’S PLEDGE ON CHEONG WA DAE

[Anchor Lead]

Meanwhile Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to return the Cheong Wa Dae site to the people when he is elected and work from the Government Complex Seoul. The pledge was made in response to the Democratic Party’s political reform plan. Yoon also said that he would abolish the capital gains tax for stocks.

[Pkg]

The Cheong Wa Dae we know will disappear once I become president. That was how People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol started his political campaign pledges. He said the name Cheong Wa Dae will be removed and the site will be opened to the public. He also plans to work from the Government Complex Seoul located in Gwanghwamun.

[Soundbite] Yoon Suk-yeol(PPP Pres. Candidate) : "The president should change first if a country is to change. I will step out of the rule of law framework and focus on my duty."

He vowed to change the organization structure as well, pledging to transform the top office into a place where government and private workers work together. Pushing out the initially planned economic pledges, these political pledges were presented in response to Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung’s political reform plan. Yoon also posted on his social media site that he would abolish the capital gains tax for stocks. He pledged to remove a 20% tax to be imposed from next year on the profit of more than 50 million won gained from stock investment.

[Soundbite] Yoon Suk-yeol(PPP Pres. Candidate) : "Ordinary investors can make profit when money flows into the stock market and make it thrive."

This pledge is expected to have far-reaching ramifications as the tax exemption is to be applied to the stock transactions of major shareholders. When he was accused of reversing his pledge of abolishing the security transaction tax made about a month ago, he replied that the current market situation was taken into account and a new capital gains tax program should be set up once the market becomes healthy again. On Friday, Yoon announced his digital economy pledges and attended a forum to discuss ways to promote the information and communications industry.