Parties set to clash over constitutional revision

Presidential Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok speaks during a press conference at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Wednesday, urging the National Assembly to revise the law on national referendums. / Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

Ruling and opposition parties seem to be on a collision course over President Moon Jae-in's push for a constitutional revision centered on changing the nation's presidential system through a referendum in June.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) demanded direct negotiations with Moon, Thursday, criticizing him for disrespecting the National Assembly. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) immediately fired back, claiming the LKP is only raising political offensives without showing sincerity.

Presidential secretary for politics affairs Han Bung-do will visit the National Assembly in a few days to deliver Moon's letter urging the parties to begin negotiations to amend the outdated Constitution, Cheong Wa Dae officials said.

The move comes amid government efforts to put a constitutional revision bill to the vote in tandem with the local elections slated for June 13. In order to hold a referendum, the Assembly must revise the law by April 23, according to Cheong Wa Dae officials. The law was ruled unconstitutional in 2014 for limiting the suffrage of citizens living overseas. The law became null in 2016 after the Assembly missed the 2015 deadline to revise it.

On Wednesday, presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok said at a press conference that the parties must take action first to revise the law on national referendums if they have the sincerity to revise the bill.

However, the main opposition party is fiercely criticizing Cheong Wa Dae's move as unilateral and tyrannical.

The LKP has unveiled its own constitutional revision proposals Tuesday which are focused on empowering the Assembly to choose and appoint the prime minister who would have the responsibility to handle domestic affairs independently from the President. And the party clearly said they will not step back from their plan to come up with an Assembly-led bill by April and hold a referendum in September.

Following the LKP's steadfast attitude, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) bashed the LKP, saying the party should take action first rather than only talking.

“The Assembly should discuss the revision bill on our own first. The LKP's proposals are unacceptable. It their proposals are not accepted, everybody knows the LKP will step back from the negotiation table,” said Woo Won-shik, floor leader of the DPK, Thursday.

“It's contradictory for the LKP to ask the President to discuss with the Assembly after they insist the Assembly should be the center of discussion.”

Given that six out of 10 South Koreans support President Moon Jae-in's proposal for a constitutional revision, according to a survey, and the fact that the opposition party pledged in the last presidential election to put a referendum on the constitutional revision coinciding with the June local elections, the LKP's revised stance is likely a political move to secure their authority in the Assembly ahead of the June elections.

So far, the LKP is in a deficit of prominent candidates for the June 13 elections, putting up members of its political old guard.

The government submitted its own constitutional revision bill to the National Assembly last month. President Moon Jae-in pledged that the government will withdraw its revision proposal if the rival parties come up with their own single bill.

Critics point out the opposition party will likely secure their present position and that will affect the passing of the bill.

“The President-led bill may not pass the Assembly, because it is operated by the relationships between political forces, not by the support rate,” Kim Soo-jin, a professor of political science and international relations at Ewha Womans University, told The Korea Times.