President Moon to submit constitutional amendment bill next week

Blue House Secretary for Civil Affairs Cho Kuk speaks during a daily briefing at the Blue House on Mar. 20 regarding President Moon’s proposed constitutional amendment. At left is Jin Seong-jun, Blue House Secretary for Political Affairs and Strategy and on the right is Kim Hyung-yeon, Secretary to the President for Legal Affairs. (Blue House Photo Pool)

The proposed change would allow South Korean presidents to serve two consecutive four-year terms

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has decided to submit a constitutional amendment bill on Mar. 26 that would give presidents up to two consecutive four-year terms, expand individual rights and increase the centralization of power. Moon intends to have Blue House Secretary for Civil Affairs Cho Kuk provide a detailed briefing of the constitutional amendment bill to persuade the public of its validity starting on Mar. 20 and lasting for three days before submitting the bill.

This means that the bill will be submitted five days later than the Blue House’s initial schedule of Mar. 21. Moon had publicly declared that he would hold a national referendum on a presidential bill during the local elections on June 13 following a vote in the National Assembly if the National Assembly failed to agree on its own constitutional amendment bill for the referendum. But with the presidential bill unlikely to pass the National Assembly because of sharp resistance from the Liberty Korea Party, the country’s most powerful opposition party, Moon appears to have adjusted the bill submission schedule as a political gambit to use a national public relations campaign to bring the National Assembly to a consensus on a constitutional reform bill.

“President Moon has instructed us to take all necessary preparations so that the constitutional amendment bill can be submitted on Mar. 26. These instructions are aimed at giving the National Assembly a final opportunity to reach consensus on amending the Constitution while abiding by the protocol and timeframe stipulated in the law and the Constitution,” Jin Seong-jun, a Blue House secretary in charge of political affairs and strategy, said during a press conference held at the Blue House on Mar. 19.

Timeline for constitutional amendment submit by President Moon

“In light of President Moon’s trip overseas lasting from Mar. 22 to 28, he had initially considered the idea of submitting the bill after he returned home, but he accepted the ruling party’s request to guarantee the 60-day review period for the National Assembly that is stipulated by the Constitution,” Jin added.

Since the constitutional amendment bill being submitted by the president is a cabinet motion, according to Clause 3, Article 89 of the Constitution, the bill can be submitted after being reviewed during a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and then approved electronically by Moon, who will be on a trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The bill will be announced and submitted simultaneously,” said a senior official at the Blue House.

Clause 1 of Article 130 of the Constitution states that “The National Assembly shall decide upon the proposed amendments within sixty days of the public announcement, and passage by the National Assembly shall require the concurrent vote of two thirds or more of the total members of the National Assembly,” the National Assembly must put the presidential bill to a vote if it cannot agree on its own constitutional amendment bill.

“President Moon once again urged the National Assembly to quickly discuss the matter and reach an agreement, while stating that he will wait for agreement of the National Assembly as long as possible. If the National Assembly reaches an agreement [about constitutional reform], President Moon will respect that,” Jin said. This implies that the presidential bill will be shelved if the National Assembly can submit its own constitutional amendment bill through a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties.

Fierce disagreements between ruling and opposition parties

The problem is that the ruling and opposition parties are likely to remain diametrically opposed about the content and procedure of constitutional reform. Since the Liberty Korea Party is fiercely opposed to constitutional reform that is spearheaded by the president, a presidential bill that is submitted for a vote is unlikely to pass the National Assembly. There are 293 total seats in the National Assembly, so a constitutional amendment bill needs 196 votes to pass. When the seats are divided by party, the Democratic Party has 121, the Liberty Korea Party has 116, the Bareun Mirae Party has 30, the Party for Democracy and Peace has 14 and the Justice Party has 6. This means that the bill could be voted down by the Liberty Korea Party alone.

Moon’s plan is to force his constitutional amendment bill through the National Assembly by securing public support for the bill, which would enable up to two consecutive four-year presidential terms, devolve the president’s powers, bolster the people’s basic rights and expand the authority of local government. Toward this end, the government will launch a major campaign on Mar. 20 to bring the public to its side. “President Moon has instructed us to announce the constitutional amendment bill and explain every aspect of it in detail to increase public understanding of the bill,” Jin said.

As such, the government is planning to unveil basic rights and a new preamble to the Constitution on Mar. 20, increased local authority and popular sovereignty on Mar. 21 and the type of the government and other matters related to the authority of constitutional bodies on Mar. 22. Blue House Secretary for Civil Affairs Cho Kuk will be in charge of explaining the bill to the public.

When asked why the announcement and explanation of the constitutional amendment bill would last for three days, a senior Blue House official said, “We believe that the constitutional amendment contains so much material that it limits our ability to thoroughly explain this to the public and seek their understanding. We think that making [three] separate announcements will help increase public understanding and interest in basic rights and decentralization of power.”

Presidential candidates pledged to carry out national referendum during last election

Constitutional reform does not currently receive the attention it did in May 2017, when Moon and the rest of the presidential candidates pledged to carry out a national referendum on amending the constitution during the June 13 local elections. So the government’s plan is to rally as much public support as possible to build enough momentum for the bill to clear the National Assembly while also using public pressure to maneuver the National Assembly into reaching consensus on a bill of its own.

After returning from his tour of Vietnam and the UAE, which is scheduled for Mar. 22 to 28, Moon is planning to invite the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to the Blue House to explain the results of his tour while also trying to bring the National Assembly around to his point of view about amending the constitution. “Another option we are considering after the presidential constitutional amendment bill is submitted on Mar. 26 is for President Moon to deliver a speech to the National Assembly during its extraordinary session in April,” said a senior official at the Blue House.

Along with this, the Blue House is also reportedly preparing for the worst-case scenario, in which Moon’s constitutional amendment bill does not pass the National Assembly. “The constitutional amendment bill that President Moon is submitting will be valid throughout the 20th session of the National Assembly,” said a senior official at the Blue House. This suggests that even if the constitution is not amended during the local elections on June 23, national support for the bill could be raised as part of another attempt to amend the constitution during the parliamentary elections in 2020.

By Kim Bo-hyeop and Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporters

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