South Koreans eye constitutional change to president’s power after martial law

SEOUL – South Korea’s political crisis has ignited bipartisan calls for constitutional amendments to reshape the power of the president, an issue hotly debated ahead of the

June 3 snap election

.

The election was called after former president Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached and removed from office over his shock martial law decree in December, and contenders from major parties have vowed to pursue constitutional reforms.

The chances of succeeding in a constitutional amendment “are higher than ever”, said Professor Chae Jin-won at Kyung Hee University’s Institute of Public Governance.

The Constitution was last revised in 1987 to introduce direct presidential elections and a single, five-year term. Changes have long been debated but never implemented.

Front runner Lee Jae-myung

of the liberal Democratic Party has proposed four years in office and two consecutive terms for presidents who take office from 2030 and onwards, a run-off system for presidential elections and parliamentary nomination for the prime minister. “The responsibility of the president should be strengthened and powers should be decentralised,” he said on May 18. 

Mr Kim Moon-soo, presidential nominee from the conservative People Power Party, has also unveiled a reform proposal, including a four-year, two-term system for future presidents. He promised to cut his own term down to three years if he is elected as the next leader so that presidential and general elections can happen in the same year from 2028. He also pledged to strike down presidential immunity.

Yoon was a member of the People Power Party until he resigned from the political party on May 17.

In recent years, presidential candidates from across the political spectrum have supported revisions, including giving presidents two four-year terms, but there have been few concrete steps after new leaders were chosen.

A Gallup Korea opinion survey in April found that 67 per cent of respondents supported revising the Constitution to fix the presidential system, with 21 per cent saying it is unnecessary.

In April, Lee rejected a proposal by Parliament Speaker Woo Won-shik to hold a referendum on constitutional reform on the presidential election day on June 3.

At the time, Lee said that ending the political turmoil was the top priority. 

The next president should begin to gather public consensus based on election pledges for the constitutional amendment and move forward with bipartisan support, he told reporters on May 25.

Mr Kim and his party criticised Lee for not pledging to reduce the term for the next presidency, but Lee said stable governance and economic recovery would be more important for the next leader than spending much of the term only on the constitutional revision. 

Prof Chae said that while Lee and Mr Kim shared similar goals, the two contenders were driven by differing motivations.

“I think candidate Kim put forward the idea of a transitional government to revise the Constitution as a way to apologise for the martial law,” he said.

“Candidate Lee initially didn’t want to jump at it... but now, he is saying it to bring in more moderate voters.” REUTERS