People Power Party's Constitutional Amendment Special Committee Fully Activated... "Will Submit Amendment Proposal as Soon as Possible"

Promoting Power Structure Reform Focused on Checks and Balances
Considering Measures to Rein in the National Assembly as Well as the President
Plans to Persuade Lee Jaemyung and Other Key Political Figures for Consensus

The People Power Party's Special Committee on Constitutional Amendment held its first meeting and began preparing its own constitutional amendment proposal. The party decided to swiftly draft its own amendment by referring to past proposals. Among the amendments under consideration is a plan to weaken the National Assembly's powers, including granting the right to dissolve the National Assembly.

Joo Ho-young, the vice speaker of the National Assembly and chair of the People Power Party's constitutional amendment special committee, introduced the committee's operational direction at a press briefing held at the National Assembly on the 4th. The committee will first address the issue of the power structure. Vice Speaker Joo explained, "Will we maintain the presidential system as it is? If so, will we keep the single five-year term, or switch to a four-year two-term system? How will we check the president’s excessive power? Will we adopt a decentralized system or not? There has been much talk about local decentralization?will we divide the power concentrated in the central government and the president to local governments? The Democratic Party has raised issues about frequent impeachments and legislative overreach; how will we check the National Assembly’s excessive overreach? These points will be the focus of our organization."

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Regarding detailed power systems, Vice Speaker Joo said, "Among the committee members, there was an opinion that a parliamentary system would be appropriate, but it seems difficult for the people to give up directly electing the president with their own hands." He added, "There was a proposal to change from a single five-year term to a four-year two-term system, to send power to local governments for a decentralized system, and to introduce a responsible prime minister system nominated by the National Assembly." Internally, there is talk that "instead of following foreign frameworks, we should decide how to finely divide power and then name the system," and "there is a discussion about creating a system with perfect checks and balances."

They are also considering ways to check the powers of the National Assembly. Vice Speaker Joo said, "We decided to discuss what methods exist to check the National Assembly’s unilateral or excessive actions," and added, "Since the right to dissolve the National Assembly can promote compromise between the ruling and opposition parties, we will consider and discuss this."

Regarding constitutional amendment discussions within the political sphere, Vice Speaker Joo said, "Even within the Democratic Party, except for Lee Jae-myung, former Democratic Party leaders and Democratic Party-affiliated speakers of the National Assembly and prime ministers are in favor of constitutional amendment," and criticized, "Lee Jae-myung is not responding to the amendment due to personal considerations and interests." On the slow progress of past constitutional amendment discussions, he said, "Prominent candidates wanted to hold elections as usual," and added, "Initially, the president opposed it, and later the party leader or prominent presidential candidates opposed it, causing the amendment to fail. We must not repeat such situations now." Vice Speaker Joo also mentioned, "If public opinion and senior politicians unite, Lee Jae-myung will not be able to maintain his stance." He said, "Once the amendment proposal is finalized, we are considering meeting with Lee Jae-myung," and "We are also considering petitioning the National Assembly for the amendment." Furthermore, he stated that in the event of an early presidential election, "Presidential candidates should disclose their constitutional amendment plans and guarantee their implementation."

The next meeting is scheduled for the 14th. The People Power Party plans to report to the party leadership after the special committee’s discussions on the amendment proposal, then hold a party caucus to establish the party’s official stance.

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