Will South Korea amend its Constitution?
People Power Party on board with speaker's proposal; Democratic Party Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung reluctant
The People Power Party on Monday backed National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik's proposal to hold a referendum on amending Constitution to reduce the president's power on the same day as the early presidential election, highly likely slated for June 3.
Rep. Kwon Young-se, the People Power party's leader, said the public consensus on reforming the country's power structure was ripe in the wake of the impeachment crisis. "We have witnessed the risks of a president having all the powers of the state," Kwon said, alluding to Yoon Suk Yeol's imposition of martial law in December last year.
The Democratic Party of Korea, on the other hand, urged caution, saying that ending the insurrection started by the ousted president should be the first priority.
Rep. Lee Jae-myung, Democratic Party chair and the presidential frontrunner, said, however, that while amending the Constitution and developing democracy is important, "putting an end to Yoon Suk Yeol's insurrection should come first."
"I think we all recognize the necessity of having a revised Constitution. But right now, nothing takes precedence over the task of preventing Yoon's bid to destroy democracy," Lee said.
Lee also pointed out that for the proposed referendum on the constitutional amendment to take place in two months, the necessary preparations couldn't be completed in time. "It would be physically impossible to revise the Referendum Act to allow early voting, which we will need to get as many to vote as possible," he said.
Speaker Woo Won-shik held a press conference on Sunday, two days after Yoon was removed from office, and called for an amendment to the Constitution to reduce the president's term, among other steps to keep executive power in check.
Under the Constitution, which was last revised in 1987, presidents can hold office for a single term of five years only. Woo's proposal would let presidents serve for four years, allowing them to be reelected once for a second four-year term.
Deputy Speaker Rep. Joo Ho-young of the People Power Party came to the speaker's defense on Monday, saying that a constitutional amendment was the "demand of the times."
Among the presidential candidates, the People Power Party's Hong Joon-pyo, the mayor of conservative stronghold Daegu, has consented to the constitutional amendment, but in a way that targets the Constitutional Court itself.
Hong, who had run for president in 2017, said the Constitutional Court needed to be abolished and that the Supreme Court should instead get a separate department for giving rulings on constitutionality. This message from Hong was seen as a bid to court hard-line Yoon supporters, discontent with the Constitutional Court's decision on Friday that upheld the ex-president's impeachment for his martial law declaration.
A People Power Party lawmaker on the Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the Democratic Party, thinking it has a better chance at winning the coming election, might be less willing to accept a constitutional amendment that would take away some of the president's powers.
"Lee Jae-myung himself has spoken on the need for constitutional reform several times in the past. But now with the presidency in sight, he would be less willing to embrace a reform plan that could limit his powers if he is elected," the lawmaker said.
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