77% of Constitutional Law Society Members Support Constitutional Amendment... Strengthening Human Rights and Adjusting Presidential Term Limits

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[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] About 77% of members of the Constitutional Law Association expressed support for constitutional amendment. The main reasons were the need to strengthen human rights protection and to adjust the powers and terms of the president and the National Assembly.

On the 1st, the Korean Constitutional Law Association, in collaboration with the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, held an academic conference titled "National Integration and Constitutional Amendment" at the National Assembly and announced the results of this survey. The survey was conducted online from the 14th to the 22nd targeting association members, and 93 responses were analyzed. Members include not only constitutional law scholars but also experts in administrative law and social sciences.

Regarding the question on constitutional amendment awareness, 19.0% responded "strongly agree" and 57.9% "somewhat agree," resulting in a total approval rate of 76.9%. The disapproval rate was 23.1%.

When those in favor were asked to select two reasons, the highest response at 54.8% was "to strengthen the protection of human rights such as new fundamental rights." In this context, Lee Nak-yeon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, recently mentioned, "If the focus is on the people's fundamental rights or equality rights rather than the power structure, opposition to constitutional amendment will be much less."

The response "to adjust the powers or terms of the president or the National Assembly" was also high at 49.3%. The 2018 Blue House constitutional amendment proposal included a single 4-year presidential term with one re-election, removal of the president's status as head of state, a responsible prime minister system, decentralization of the Supreme Court Chief Justice's personnel authority, proportionality principle for National Assembly seats, and economic democratization. Constitutional amendments regarding extension or change of the president's term do not apply to the incumbent President Moon Jae-in.

Other reasons for supporting constitutional amendment were "presenting values to resolve social conflicts such as fairness" at 27.4%, "expanding direct democratic participation of the people" at 20.5%, and "strengthening local decentralization" at 16.4%. Additionally, "preparing for changes in international relations and inter-Korean relations" and "changing the form of government" were each at 12.4%.

Regarding the reasons why constitutional amendments promoted during the Moon Jae-in administration were not realized (two responses allowed), 50.5% answered "party's self-interested approach," and 48.4% answered "lack of public consensus," showing similar proportions.

The most desirable method for proposing constitutional amendments was "discussion and proposal through the formation of a special committee on constitutional amendment in the National Assembly" at 38.8%, followed by "proposal by the National Assembly after drafting and negotiation of constitutional amendments by political parties and civil society" at 21.1%.

This is the first time that an official forum or seminar on constitutional amendment has been held in the 21st National Assembly. Speaker Park Byeong-seok has continuously emphasized the necessity of constitutional amendment. In his congratulatory remarks on this day, Speaker Park said, "This is a time of great transformation," and added, "The National Assembly must play the role of a melting pot for national integration that unites the hearts of the people. The people are demanding extraordinary determination from the political sphere." This is interpreted as a renewed call for political circles to discuss constitutional amendment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.