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President Roh Moo-hyun, proposing amendments to the Constitution on January 9.
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Roh’s suggestion of four-year, two-term presidential rule has Koreans divided
Public opinion is divided over President’s Roh Moo-hyun’s suggestion to replace the current five-year single-term presidency with a four-year term with the possibility of serving two terms. According to a survey, the majority of South Koreans think the right time for such a constitutional revision is during the next president’s tenure, instead of during President Roh’s term, which ends in one year. The revision would not affect President Roh’s abilities to run for presidency again. According to the survey, conducted on 700 South Korean adults by Research Plus on January 9 at the request of the Hankyoreh, about 43.0 percent of respondents agreed with the president’s proposal on the need to introduce legislation for a four-year, double-term presidency sometime this year, while 43.5 percent disagreed with some aspect of this proposal. About 44.2 percent out of those who disagreed said that President Roh’s proposal stemmed from the desire for political gain rather than the national interest, indicating that they are not opposed to President Roh’s idea, but that they do not agree with his timing. Regarding the appropriate timing a constitutional revision, almost 52.3 percent said "during the next presidency," while 19.8 percent went with President Roh’s suggestion to do so as soon as possible. About 17.7 percent thought that following the next presidency would be the right time for a constitutional revision.However, regardless of the debate on the constitutional revision or on President Roh’s proposed timeframe for the move, 46.1 percent favored a four-year, double-term presidency, compared to 32.0 percent who favored the current system. The survey had margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points and a 95 percent confidence level. Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
