[Anchor]

A commemorative ceremony was held at the National Assembly to mark Constitution Day, which has been reinstated as a public holiday after 18 years. However, even on a day meant to reflect on the spirit of the Constitution, the ruling and opposition parties continued to trade blame for the two-month-long paralysis of the National Assembly.

Reporter Son Hyeong-an has the story.

[Reporter]

The 78th Constitution Day ceremony, held at the National Assembly as it returns to being a legal public holiday after 18 years, was attended by approximately 500 people, including the four heads of government branches and leaders of various political parties.

National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik compared the current Constitution, which was last amended in 1987, to a garment from the past and proposed that a constitutional amendment for national sovereignty be prepared by next year.

[Cho Jeong-sik/National Assembly Speaker: We will start by addressing tasks with a high level of consensus, such as including the spirit of the May 18 Democratization Movement in the preamble of the Constitution and limiting the president's power to declare martial law.]

The People Power Party, which has been boycotting parliamentary schedules in protest of the Democratic Party's unilateral formation of standing committees, saw Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik change his initial stance and attend the ceremony. However, Representative Jang Dong-hyuk did not attend and instead headed to a suffrage rally at Olympic Park in Seoul.

Regarding the National Assembly, which has been stalled for two months, the Democratic Party claims that the People Power Party is ignoring the livelihoods of the people, while the People Power Party argues that the Democratic Party is acting unilaterally by weaponizing its number of parliamentary seats. Both sides are only blaming each other.

The People Power Party proposed that starting from the next session, the National Assembly Speaker should be from the largest party and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chair should be from the second-largest party, provided that the party returns to the National Assembly. However, the Democratic Party is showing a negative stance, citing a lack of deliberation and discussion.

The two parties are also at odds over the method of recommending a special prosecutor for the National Election Commission, with the Democratic Party favoring a third-party recommendation and the People Power Party insisting on an opposition party recommendation.

Furthermore, as the Democratic Party has signaled that it will push for the passage of a bill to extend the investigation period for the comprehensive special prosecutor at the plenary session on July 20, the People Power Party plans to block it through a legal filibuster.

(Video reporting: Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan | Video editing: Won Hyeong-hee)