Parliamentary subcommittee passes bill to reinstate Constitution Day as public holiday

President Lee Jae Myung delivers the 2026 budget speech during a plenary session of the National Assembly in Seoul, Nov. 4. Yonhap

A subcommittee of the National Assembly's interior and safety committee on Monday passed a revision to the Public Holidays Act that would restore Constitution Day as a public holiday for the first time in 18 years.

Observed annually on July 17, Constitution Day had been a public holiday until it was reclassified in 2008 as a commemorative day, after which government offices and businesses no longer closed for the occasion.

Among Korea's five national commemorative days, Constitution Day is currently the only one that is not designated as a public holiday.

If the revision passes a plenary meeting of the committee and a plenary vote of the Assembly, Constitution Day will be redesignated as a public holiday for the first time in 18 years starting next year.

Earlier in July, Lee instructed senior aides and secretaries to review the possibility of reinstating it as a public holiday marking the 77th anniversary of Constitution Day.