Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at the finance desk of The Korea Times, focuses primarily on economic policy and government agencies, mainly covering the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Budget and Planning, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service. She previously covered financial authorities, including the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, and earlier worked on the political, city and business desks, reporting on a wide range of issues.
151 legislators agree to revise Constitution
By Jun Ji-hye
A group of lawmakers will draw up a draft bill as early as next month for an amendment to the Constitution that would change the current single, five year presidential term to a four term with the possibility of an incumbent president being reelected.
According to Rep. Woo Yoon-keun of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday, a total of 151 lawmakers joined the group to push for the revision.
Woo said the number satisfied the law that requires more than half of all legislators or the President to propose an amendment of the Constitution. The entire number of members serving in the National Assembly is 300.
“Among those, 56 are from the ruling Saenuri Party, 93 from the DP and 2 from the minor opposition Justice Party,” said Woo.
Along with changing the presidential term, they are also looking at measures to introduce power-sharing between the president and the prime minister, under which the president would focus on matters related to foreign affairs and unification, while the latter would take care of domestic affairs.
Rep. Lee Jae-oh of the ruling party, who has earned the nickname “preacher for constitutional revision,” said that they plan to complete a final bill in March in order to realign the power structure of the nation.
To be finally approved, the revision should be put to a referendum if approved by the National Assembly.
“Our goal is to include the referendum proposal in the June 4 local elections,” said Lee. “Lawmakers belonging to our group will promote the need for the revision in each of their constituencies, so that the public sympathy for the revision can spread nationwide.”
He said that the group will make efforts to persuade other lawmakers to secure more lawmakers to support the revision in the National Assembly, in order to satisfy the approval condition of two-thirds of legislators.
Currently, the support of an additional 49 lawmakers is required for a bill to be approved.
Assembly Speaker Kang Chang-hee is also supporting the amendment.
However, it remains to be seen whether they can smoothly achieve the passage as President Park Geun-hye earlier expressed her skepticism over the move to amend the Constitution.
During her press conference in January, Park said pushing through economic policies should take priority at this stage, rather than the parliament becoming bogged down in discussions over constitutional revisions.
If pro-Park lawmakers including leadership of the governing camp are opposed to the revision, the move to amend the Constitution is expected to experience a stormy passage.