Constitutional Amendment
South Korean President Park Geun-hye mentioned the necessity of constitutional amendment on October 24, saying, “The five-year single-term presidency has negatively affected policy continuity.”
High-ranking officials at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure & Transport and the Ministry of Strategy & Finance advocated the necessity of constitutional amendment by saying that issues such as the rapid aging of the population, low fertility and corporate restructuring require policy continuity. “Constitutional amendment is essential in that policy taking at least three to four years to bear fruit cannot be pursued with the term of the President limited to five years,” those at the Financial Services Commission also said, adding, “The opposition to constitutional amendment in the past was to prevent dictatorship but the time has changed now.”
Those on the opposite side, in the meantime, are saying that it is not desirable for the President’s remarks to swallow every other issue to worsen the already dire economic conditions. “We have a huge number of economic stimulus bills pending in the National Assembly now and her remarks are likely to put them aside,” one of them mentioned.
Drastic changes and controversies seem to be inevitable regardless of the result. “Every economic and social issue is likely to be handled with less significance due to the discussions to follow regarding constitutional amendment,” a high-ranking financial official said, adding, “Still, it seems that lame duck cannot be avoided even by the amendment.”