President Lee: “A president-led constitutional amendment may have limited public acceptance”

[Financial News] President Lee Jae Myung said on the 4th that he agreed on the need for constitutional reform, but that it could have limited public acceptance if led by the president. He said it would be preferable to first find areas where the ruling and opposition parties could reach agreement in the National Assembly.
According to senior presidential spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung, President Lee invited the leadership and executive members of the Constitutional Association to the Blue House for a luncheon meeting that day and responded in this way to Constitutional Association President Chung Dae-chul’s proposal for a constitutional amendment during the term.
Chung proposed replacing the current presidential system with a decentralized presidential system and strengthening local decentralization, saying these changes were necessary, and called for a constitutional amendment during the term. He asked the president to take the lead in dialogue and coordination for coexistence, cooperation and unity, and also raised the issue of the return of wartime operational control.
President Lee agreed that a constitutional amendment was necessary, saying that some parts of the current Constitution did not fit the changed circumstances of the times. He noted, however, that an amendment led by the president could have limited public acceptance, and that securing the support of at least two-thirds of National Assembly members would also be a high hurdle. His point was that it would be preferable for the National Assembly to find common ground between the ruling and opposition parties and pursue constitutional reform on that basis.
President Lee expressed regret that politics had become less able to fulfill its role as a forum for rational debate, and stressed the importance of dialogue and communication. He said the experience and advice of political elders were urgently needed and added that he hoped the role of the Constitutional Association would be expanded further.
Participants offered suggestions on harmony between the ruling and opposition parties, addressing social polarization, and strengthening cybersecurity.
President Lee said the purpose of politics is to improve people’s lives, and that pragmatism, moderation and dialogue are important in governing the country, including improving relations between South Korea and Japan. He said that as recently as early last year, amid national debt and negative growth, he had worked to turn things around, and that as a result, economic indicators were gradually beginning to offer some breathing room. He said that even the situation in which nominal growth is forecast to exceed 20% must translate for the public into “an improvement in my life.”

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