Is it too late?
By Kim Jong-chan
Leaders of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) differed over whether now is time for the party to push for talks on a revision of the Constitution.
Party Chairman Rep. Ahn Sang-soo said discussions are needed to keep a promise political parties made years ago. While presiding over a meeting of the party's six-member Supreme Council last Thursday, he recalled that parties decided to address the issue in the current National Assembly which was inaugurated in mid-2008.
However, Rep. Hong Joon-pyo said it was too late to tackle the knotty issue that has long been shelved. Moreover, he noted, the National Assembly enters the fourth and final year of its four-year term in May.
He said it is doubtful whether constitutional change could be materialized since some presidential hopefuls are already jumpstarting bids for the next presidential election.
Hong said he agrees with many other lawmakers on the need to rewrite the Constitution which was last revised in 1987. But circumstances are not ripe for doing it.
Rep. La Kyung-won sided with Hong, contending that pushing ahead with the revision now could be viewed as an intention to gain something, not as an effort to keep the promise politicians made in 2007 during the previous administration.
Should things go to that effect, lawmakers will have no choice but to select one from among presidential contenders they support at an early date, thus fanning pre-campaigning and drawing public criticism, she said.
The pros and cons came two days after a behind-the-scenes meeting of some 40 mainstream lawmakers of the GNP, who support the revision.
In the meeting, Lee Jae-oh, President Lee’s right-hand man and minister for special affairs, stressed the need for the introduction of a system to reduce the president’s power _ though presidential aspirants may wish that the "emperor-like" president's power remain intact.
Critics say the current five-year, single-term scheme makes a president an early lame duck, and self-righteous and stubborn. The proposed four-year scheme allows the president to seek a second term.
Followers of former GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye, on the other hand, are critical of the mainstream group’s move to change the power structure, arguing that the contemplated upheaval targets a “certain person.”
Park’s support rate hovers slightly above 30 percent, more than double any other presidential aspirants. She unsuccessfully ran against President Lee in the GNP’s primary to choose a candidate for the 2007 election.
It is no easier for GNP mainstreamers to deal with the Park faction than it is for the main opposition Democratic Party (DP). Park’s followers and opposition lawmakers voted against the government’s revised development plan for Sejong City, which put an end to nine months of political wrangling over the relocation of government offices to South Chungcheong Province. Lawmakers loyal to President Lee Myung-bak supported it. The contentious bill called for the scrapping of the previous administration’s plan to build an administrative town there.
The GNP postponed the convening of a meeting of party lawmakers to address pending issues from this week to Feb. 8 to 10. Many see the delay as a move to earn time to generate consensus within the party.
The postponement came after President Lee, according to GNP officials, ordered the party to step up efforts to overhaul the current basic law which, Lee said, does not fit the 21st century.
Lee asked GNP leaders to tackle not only the proposed change in power structure but also issues regarding the people’s basic rights, women, climate change and others to meet the changing reality.
To materialize the revision, GNP mainstreamers should clear two more hurdles out of the way.
First, the DP labels the GNP mainstreamers’ move as politically-motivated. A constitutional change requires the approval by two-thirds or 200 of the 299 National Assemblymen. The GNP has 171 seats, while the DP has 86 seats and the Liberty Forward Party, 16. The remaining 16 are shared by tiny parties and independents. Of 171 GNP legislators, about 90 are loyal to President Lee, while 50 support Park.
Second, public hearings are a prerequisite to the production of a national consensus as the revision requires the approval by a majority in a national referendum.
The issue has been a major source of discussion in the country for years.
Former President Roh Moo-hyun scrapped a proposal for constitutional change in 2007, the last year of his five-year tenure, following an inter-party agreement to address it in the next government.
DP officials as well as some GNP leaders said that President Lee, who enters the fourth year of his term next month, should have initiated the drive earlier.