South Korea: DP's Lee proposes amending Constitution for two four-year presidential terms

Seoul, May 18 South Korean Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on Sunday proposed an amendment to the nation's Constitution that would allow a president to serve two four-year terms.

The proposal is expected to help reduce presidential powers because a president could be judged by voters when the first four-year term is over, Lee said in a Facebook posting.

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Lee, who has kept a solid lead in opinion polls for the June 3 election, called for the National Assembly to form a special committee for the discussions for the proposed amendment, Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korea's single, five-year term presidency was established in an amendment to the Constitution in 1987.

Lee proposed a referendum on the amendment during the local elections next year or the general elections in 2028.

He also called for introducing a runoff system for presidential elections to "minimise unnecessary social conflict," as well as requiring parliamentary recommendation when appointing prime ministers and parliamentary approval for heads of government agencies.

In addition, Lee called for limiting presidential veto powers and making it necessary for the president to seek parliamentary consent when he or she seeks to declare martial law.

"Even in an emergency, if it does not get parliamentary approval within 24 hours, it should automatically lose its effect," he said.

After attending a ceremony marking the 1980 Gwangju pro-democracy uprising, Lee told reporters the proposed constitutional amendment for the two-term presidency would not apply to the sitting president.

"Our Constitution outlines that a constitutional amendment does not apply to the sitting president," Lee said. "If (the amendment) takes place right after the local elections, it would fit perfectly.

"The issue of terms for the country's final decision maker must be considered carefully," he said. "What is more important than the constitutional amendment is stabilising the country and recovering the people's livelihoods, and it would be most rational to conduct the amendment along with the next local elections."

Lee said that constitutional amendments cannot take place unilaterally and called for focusing on areas where a compromise can be reached rather than simply pushing for an all-out revision.

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