[Anchor]

A commemorative ceremony was held at the National Assembly yesterday (July 17) to mark Constitution Day, which has been reinstated as a public holiday after 18 years. Meanwhile, the ruling and opposition parties continue to run on parallel tracks, trading blame over the National Assembly, which has been paralyzed for two months.

Reporter Son Hyeong-an has the story.

[Reporter]

The 78th Constitution Day ceremony, held at the National Assembly, was attended by some 500 people, including the four heads of the branches of government and leaders of each political party.

National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik compared the current ninth amendment of the Constitution, revised in 1987, to a suit from the past, and proposed that a constitutional amendment bill based on national sovereignty be prepared by next year.

[Cho Jeong-sik/National Assembly Speaker: We will start by breaking the deadlock on 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-hyeok did not attend and instead went to a suffrage rally at Olympic Park in Seoul.

Regarding the operation of 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 using its number of seats as a weapon.

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 the party returns to the National Assembly. However, the Democratic Party is showing a negative stance, claiming there was no deliberation or discussion.

The two parties are also at odds over the recommendation method for a special counsel to investigate the National Election Commission, with the Democratic Party calling for a third-party recommendation and the People Power Party insisting on an opposition-led recommendation.

Furthermore, as the Democratic Party has announced plans to process a bill to extend the investigation period of the comprehensive special counsel at the National Assembly plenary session on the 20th, the People Power Party plans to block it through a legal filibuster.

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