Will Korea be able to see a president under age 40?

Lee Jun-seok, right, a 36-year-old politician running for the conservative main opposition People Power Party's leadership race, shakes hands with a merchant during his visit to a traditional market in Daegu, May 24. Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

Calls are growing from both the ruling and opposition parties to amend the Constitution, as it disallows people under 40 years old from running for a presidential election.

These calls come amid a young politician's rise in the conservative main opposition People Power Party's (PPP) ongoing leadership race, and ask the political circles to embrace a generational shift.

Lee Jun-seok, 36, who was a former Supreme Council member of the PPP, has emerged as a leading candidate to become the conservative party's next chairman.

Since 1962, a year after the May 16 military coup through which former President Park Chung-hee seized power, the country's Constitution has stipulated that a candidate's minimum age on the day of the presidential election must be at least 40.

Rep. Lee Kwang-jae, a three-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), who officially declared his bid for the next presidential election scheduled for March, wrote on his Facebook page Monday, “Discussions should begin to improve an outdated system so that people in their 20s and 30s can also become the leader of this country.”

The ruling party noted that abolishing the minimum age requirement for presidential candidates was included in President Moon Jae-in's 2018 proposals to amend the Constitution.

The minor opposition Justice Party called the minimum age requirement for presidential candidates “a discriminatory and unfair rule.”

During a press conference at the National Assembly, Sunday, Kang Min-jin, the leader of the party's youth chapter, said, “Every presidential candidate talks about the young generation and the need for a generational shift, but none of these candidates are young.”

She said that the presidential election should not be monopolized by a certain generation, but instead be open to everyone.

Rep. Ryu Ho-jeong of the party also said, “If 36-year-old Lee Jun-seok can become the chairman of the main opposition party, he should also be able to become the president, even if he is younger than 40.”

Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the conservative main opposition PPP agreed with Rep. Ryu, calling on the ruling and opposition parties to join hands to amend the Constitution. He said that the amendment would be quite possible, as it could be done by revising just one clause of the Constitution.

Independent lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun noted that the minimum voting age was lowered from 19 to 18 last year, while the National Election Commission suggested lowering the minimum age for joining a political party from 18 to 16. Considering these trends, limiting the age for candidates to run in the presidential election to 40 and above is inappropriate, he said.

“The current Constitution makes it difficult for Korea to see young and sensational leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron, who was elected president at the age of 39,” Yoon said.

Experts said that growing calls for abolishing the minimum age for presidential candidates seem to be related to young people's anger over the unfair reality, which they believe results from older politicians pursuing their vested interests.

“Young people believe that abolishing the minimum age for presidential candidates will loosen the grip of well-entrenched privileged groups,” said Shin Yul, a political science and diplomacy professor at Myongji University.