"Unification with Acting President Han Should Go Through Debates and a National Primary"
Hong Joonpyo, former mayor of Daegu and a presidential hopeful from the People Power Party, stated on April 28, "Inheritance tax for large corporations should be eased, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should be exempted from it."
On this day, during a meeting held at the Korea Federation of SMEs, Hong emphasized, "We need to reform the inheritance tax system that threatens management rights," expressing his position on the matter.
Hong remarked, "Even Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung, probably could not pay the entire inheritance tax," and pointed out, "That is why foreign companies are trying to acquire Samsung."
Regarding inheritance tax for SMEs, he stated, "Even when trying to pass down a family business, the inheritance tax is so high that many end up selling their companies or investing in real estate," and argued, "Inheritance tax should be exempted for SMEs and small businesses."
He also called for flexible application of the 52-hour workweek and improvement of employment flexibility. He said, "Because it is difficult to dismiss employees, companies hire non-regular workers instead of regular ones and differentiate between the two," and added, "We need to secure flexibility in dismissals and change the seniority-based wage system to a performance-based pay system."
On the minimum wage system, he stressed the need to consider differentiated application by region, industry, and between domestic and foreign workers. Hong proposed, "Applying the minimum wage uniformly exacerbates business difficulties," and suggested, "We should consider differentiated application and form a Minimum Wage Committee centered on small business owners and SME operators."
When asked about the direction of unification with acting President and Prime Minister Han Ducksoo, he responded, "If Han goes this far to set the stage and then does not run, it would be strange," and added, "After holding two or three debates, we should proceed with a national primary."
On this day, SME representatives requested that Hong establish a Ministry of Population to address the population crisis, create a Presidential Innovation and Transition Committee for the revival of small manufacturing businesses, and grant the right for SME cooperatives to request consultations.
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