The Democratic Party Backs 'Constitutional Amendment'... "The Problem Is the Imperial Presidential System"

Plan to Form Its Own Constitutional Amendment Committee
Move Seen as a Check on Lee Jaemyung

The People Power Party raised the issue of constitutional amendment, arguing that the country must move away from the imperial presidential system after President Yoon Seok-yeol was detained. This is because the imperial presidential system has been maintained under the Sixth Republic system for over 40 years, causing successive presidents to suffer unfortunate events.

According to the People Power Party on the 20th, the party leadership plans to soon form and discuss appointments for its own special committee on constitutional amendment. Kwon Young-se, the party's emergency committee chairman, told reporters after an emergency meeting at the National Assembly the day before, "Most presidents have experienced unfortunate events after their terms ended, but this is not a personal issue of the president, rather a problem with the system itself," emphasizing the need for constitutional amendment. He stated that the harms caused by the imperial presidential system, which concentrates power in the president, must be overcome.

A flood of calls for constitutional amendment erupted within the People Power Party. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo, and Assemblyman Kim Sang-wook also each advocated for presidential constitutional amendment. Mayor Oh urged on his Facebook, "The country's governance system must be completely overhauled to minimize the possibility of confusion caused by leader risks."

The People Power Party is also expected to propose constitutional amendment discussions to the opposition party during the resumed ruling-opposition-government policy council this week. A senior party official said, "During the working-level talks, we were told it would be difficult to put this on the agenda," but added, "However, there is no topic that cannot be discussed in the consultative body. The Democratic Party should not take a passive stance but actively engage."

Yonhap News

Regarding the background of the constitutional amendment drive, there is also a view that it is being used as a means to check Lee Jae-myung, the leading opposition candidate and leader of the Democratic Party, amid growing possibilities of an early presidential election. Analysts suggest that by raising the constitutional amendment issue at the time President Yoon was detained, the People Power Party is trying to shift the focus of attention to the constitutional system problem.

Earlier, Cheotmokhoe, a group of young reformists in their 30s and 40s within the People Power Party, held its first meeting of its own constitutional amendment special committee last week and discussed including a clause in Article 84 of the Constitution (which states that the president is immune from criminal prosecution except in cases of rebellion or foreign invasion) specifying that "this does not apply to trials already ongoing before the president's term begins." This is interpreted as targeting Lee, who is currently facing five trials on 12 charges including violations of the Public Official Election Act.

No Jong-myeon, the Democratic Party's floor spokesperson, dismissed the constitutional amendment proposal raised by the ruling party, saying, "Is this the right time to mention constitutional amendment?" At the party's highest council meeting that day, floor leader Park Chan-dae refrained from commenting on the People Power Party's proposed constitutional amendment discussion and instead pressured them regarding the riot incident at the Western District Court the previous day, saying, "Stop the ambiguous double standards, apologize to the people for the wrong behaviors shown so far, respect the judicial system, and take action to establish the rule of law."

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