Presidential Candidates Focus on the Votes of '10 Million Ants'

Yoon Seok-yeol Proposes 'Abolition of Capital Gains Tax on Stocks'... Ahn Cheol-soo Also Agrees to 'Temporary Relief'
Lee Jae-myung Pledges Responsibility for Pension Fund Stock Market Stability and Ban on Re-listing After Physical Division

Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea (from the right), Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party, and Yoon Seok-youl of the People Power Party, presidential candidates, are attending the New Year Greeting Ceremony of Daegu-Gyeongbuk Residents in Seoul at the Press Center in Jung-gu on the 17th and posing for a commemorative photo. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] Presidential candidates are actively presenting pledges to revitalize the stock market. This is a strategy to capture the votes of the so-called '10 million ant investors.'

According to political circles on the 31st, Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, posted the seven words "Abolish stock transfer tax" on his Facebook on the 27th. The government plans to expand the criteria for capital gains tax application from 2023, imposing up to 25% transfer tax on capital gains exceeding 50 million KRW annually not only on major shareholders but also on individual investors, and Yoon intends to abolish this.

Candidate Yoon emphasized, "Regardless of whether they are big or small investors, a large amount of funds must flow into and activate the stock market itself so that ordinary investors can also make profits," adding, "Now is the time to further revitalize the stock market."

Won Hee-ryong, head of the policy headquarters of the People Power Party's election campaign, also stated, "We cannot ignore the despair, anxiety, and anger of stock investors who place their last hope for life assets on the domestic and U.S. stock markets," and added, "We will protect ant investors across generations and ages who place their dreams of asset formation in the stock market by overcoming the Korea discount."

Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party candidate, also voiced agreement with Yoon's pledge to abolish the stock transfer tax. In a radio interview on the 28th, Ahn mentioned the U.S. quantitative easing reduction and interest rate hikes, saying, "It will be difficult to realize profits through stocks," and added, "Temporarily easing aspects like the stock transfer tax seems appropriate."

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, visited the Korea Exchange earlier this year and wrote in the guestbook, "Let's move toward a stock index of 5,000 points through capital market transparency and rapid industrial transition."

Additionally, on the 28th, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, Candidate Lee posted on Facebook the phrase, "Responsibility of pension funds for stock market stability, prohibition of re-listing after physical division, enforcement of fairness in stock short selling, strict punishment for stock price manipulation and market disruption." By proposing these four measures to protect individual investors, he countered Yoon's pledge to abolish the stock transfer tax.

The prohibition of re-listing after physical division reflects consideration for individual investors who suffered losses from LG Chem's split listing of LG Energy Solution. Ensuring fairness in short selling and strict punishment for stock price manipulation and market disruption are also interpreted as measures to reduce stock market volatility and protect the 10 million ant investors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.