Constitutional reform set as top agenda for Lee administration

Korea Herald

3 days ago

Committee proposes disbandment of Supreme Prosecutors' Office by 2030, sets AI as future growth engine
The State Affairs Planning Committee, acting as a de facto transition team for President Lee Jae Myung, announced Wednesday that amending the Constitution will be the top priority among 123 agenda items in his policy blueprint. The committee added that the proposed reform aims to reinforce the constitutional principle of popular sovereignty.
Also outlined in the Lee administration's blueprint were a reform of the prosecution, as well as ways to increase South Korea's potential economic growth rate to 3 percent, in large part through a wider adoption of artificial intelligence. This would be achieved by leveraging the country's human talent, along with more than 50,000 graphics processing units, a next-generation power grid and a transition to renewable energy.
Some 210 trillion won ($151.8 billion) in fiscal spending will be directed over the next five years to achieving the 123 policy goals.
"Ending the 1987 Constitution, (the Lee administration) will push to amend the Constitution based on citizen participation to open a new era," Rep. Lee Hae-sik of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the committee, told a briefing to the nation held at Cheong Wa Dae, the former presidential compound in Seoul.
The committee did not elaborate on the direction or a timeframe of the amendment, but Lee has previously hinted at allowing South Korean presidents to serve two four-year terms instead of the current, single five-year term.
During the presidential campaign, Lee and his Democratic Party of Korea suggested introducing a new presidential system through constitutional reform that the party said would curtail the power of the South Korean president. Under the proposal, presidents would be allowed to serve two four-year terms, with the re-election contest after the first term serving as a referendum on the sitting president's performance.
In addition to the change in the presidential term limit, Lee, during his presidential campaign, floated a new system of stronger constitutional checks on presidential power: Parliament would recommend candidates for prime minister, and the president's exercise of veto power would be restrained.
Following his inauguration in June, Lee expressed an intent to carry out constitutional reform as South Korea marked the 77th Constitution Day in July. Lee also wrote on Facebook that the newly amended Constitution would uphold the spirit of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising in May 1980 and encompass the greater fundamental rights of each citizen and the greater local autonomy.
If implemented as planned, the constitutional amendment would be the first since the current Constitution was ratified in 1987, which introduced a single five-year presidential term.
Many of Lee's predecessors -- Moon Jae-in, Park Geun-hye, Lee Myung-bak and the late Roh Moo-hyun -- have floated constitutional reform, but none of their proposals bore fruit. Disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol also expressed a willingness to entrust his presidential powers to the then-ruling People Power Party in December, after his sudden imposition of martial law threw South Korea into political turmoil.
Prosecutorial reform
Also among the 123 policy goals of the Lee administration is its widely-anticipated push for a major reform to curb the power of South Korean law enforcement institutions such as the prosecution and police.
By 2030, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office will be disbanded, and the organization will be split into two. One will be dedicated to investigating serious crimes while the other will be dedicated to filing indictments of criminal suspects. This is largely in line with the liberal bloc's claim that the prosecution's power to both investigate criminal cases and bring suspects to court has often led to politically motivated persecutions.
The police will also strive for political neutrality in part by abolishing the police bureau at the Ministry of Interior and Safety, which was established in 2022 during former President Yoon's term, according to the committee.
Also by 2030, South Korea will champion the mass adoption of AI, with the goal of becoming a "top-three AI powerhouse," according to the committee. Furthermore, an "electricity highway" will be built along the western coast of the Korean Peninsula, so that industrial complexes powered by renewable energy, aligned with initiatives such as RE100, can thrive along the new power grid infrastructure.
A leap forward through such technological advancements, coupled with blueprints for inclusive economic growth and market fairness, will allow South Korea to break away from the low-growth trap and achieve a potential economic growth rate of 3 percent during Lee's term.
The State Affairs Planning Committee, currently led by Lee Han-joo, a longtime aide to Lee, will wrap up its two-month run on Thursday.
According to the committee, the policy accomplishment will be managed jointly through the presidential office, the Office of the Government Policy Coordination and a newly established presidential committee on national futuristic strategy.