President Lee Calls for Step-by-Step Constitutional Amendments Ahead of Assembly Vote

President Lee Jae-myung said Tuesday that pursuing constitutional change in stages, as agreement is reached, is the most realistic approach.
 
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review session at Cheong Wa Dae, Lee said a National Assembly vote on a constitutional amendment bill is expected to take place Wednesday.
 
Lee said South Korea has undergone major political, economic and social changes since the current Constitution was adopted in 1987, but the Constitution has “stood still” for 40 years. He compared it to clothing that no longer fits a country that has changed and grown, arguing it needs to be altered.
 
He added that under the current Constitution, it is difficult to fully safeguard the country’s present level, people’s living conditions and the nation’s future.
 
At the same time, Lee said a full-scale revision would be burdensome and hard to achieve because of political interests. He urged a practical approach: do what is possible now rather than postponing everything.
 
Lee said it should be self-evident to prevent any attempt to declare martial law illegally — when the country is not under martial law — to maintain power or pursue private interests, and to use the military to impose dictatorship. He questioned who could oppose writing “reasonable controls” on emergency martial law into the Constitution, adding that those who do oppose it are effectively defending illegal martial law.
 
With the anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Uprising approaching, Lee said a tragedy like the Gwangju May 18 incident — in which weapons entrusted to protect the nation were used to kill citizens and destroy constitutional order — must never happen again. He said both ruling and opposition parties have publicly agreed to include the spirit of May 18 and the spirit of the Bu-Ma Democratic Protests in the Constitution’s preamble.
 
He criticized opposition to doing so now, saying it makes no sense when there is a real opportunity to add it to the preamble.
 
Lee also said strengthening local autonomy is something all citizens agree on, and urged political leaders to act on what they have long said in unison by putting it into practice in Wednesday’s vote.