Growing Controversy Over "People's Choice": "State That You Will Not Seek Re-election"

[Anchor]
The suspicion that a constitutional amendment is being pursued to allow the incumbent president to seek consecutive terms has largely been fueled by the ruling bloc itself. The People Power Party stated that President Lee Jae-myung's brief remark that "the term is clearly limited by the Constitution" is not enough, urging him to clearly declare that he will not run for consecutive terms.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin has the details.

[Reporter]

Regarding President Lee Jae-myung's remark that "the term is clearly limited by the Constitution," the People Power Party criticized it as mere "wordplay," pointing out that he did not say "he will not seek consecutive or additional terms."

[Jang Dong-hyeok / Leader, People Power Party: There is no crafty constitutional amendment, and he will not seek consecutive terms—those are the words he is ultimately failing to say.]

While the Democratic Party did not issue an official commentary, responses within the party continued to counter the criticisms from the People Power Party.

[Song Ki-heon / Lawmaker, Democratic Party: My view is that the President does not necessarily need to address this himself.]

Regarding the possibility of a constitutional amendment allowing consecutive terms for an incumbent president, Minister of Government Legislation Cho Won-chul, a classmate of President Lee from the Judicial Research and Training Institute, stated during a parliamentary audit in October of last year that "it is a matter for the public to decide." Furthermore, National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-shik, who previously served as a political special advisor to President Lee, sparked a controversy in July with the following remarks:

[Cho Jeong-shik / National Assembly Speaker (in July): Ultimately, I think it is a matter of public opinion and the choice of the people, who are the sovereigns.]

Among some supporters of the broader ruling bloc, a so-called "3+4 consecutive term theory" has even emerged, suggesting that President Lee could reduce his term to three years for the sake of constitutional amendment and then run again to serve another four years.

Debates surrounding this issue continued during the negotiation group speeches by party floor leaders on the 7th and 8th.

[Kim Min-seok / Leader, Democratic Party (on the 7th): Reorganization of the power structure should go as far as the public desires.]

[Chung Jeom-shik / Floor Leader, People Power Party (on the 8th): We will never discuss constitutional amendment with forces seeking to pursue private interests through it.]

In academia, while some opine that consecutive terms could be made possible through a "two-stage constitutional amendment" that first amends or deletes Article 128, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution before revising Article 70 regarding the single five-year presidential term, many views hold that consecutive terms for an incumbent president are fundamentally impossible given the intent of the current Constitution to block any attempts at prolonged rule.

(Reported by Oh Young-chun and Kim Yong-woo | Video Edited by Yu Mi-ra | Graphics by Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.