National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on April 6. Reporter Park Min-gyu

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik on April 6 proposed holding a national referendum on amending the Constitution on the day of the early presidential election, which will be held in the wake of the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol. The idea is that the process of constitutional amendment should begin before the start of the new president’s term in order to realize it, which has been repeatedly stalled. It is unclear whether the constitutional amendment will be a major agenda item in the upcoming presidential election due to the short election period and the opposition within the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) to discussing the constitutional amendment at this time.

Woo held a press conference at the National Assembly on the same day and said, “I propose to hold a national referendum on amending the Constitution on the same day as the day of the early presidential election.” He added, “We need to eliminate the risk of winner-take-all, decentralize power for national sovereignty, and institutionalize consultation and cooperation for national unity.”

Woo cited the divergent interests of political factions over power restructuring as a reason why the constitutional amendment has been repeatedly failed. “When a party becomes the ruling party, it hesitates to amend the constitution at the beginning of his or her term for fear that it will become a black hole in state affairs, and in the second half of the term, it loses momentum due to lame duck,” Woo said. ”To avoid repeating the vicious cycle, it should be done before the start of the new presidential term. Let's take this opportunity to reorganize the power structure.”

It has been confirmed that the "Na”iona’ Future Constitutional Amendment Advisory Committee,” which is directly under the speaker of the National Assembly, is strongly considering the National Assembly’s right to recommend the prime minister and the four-year presidential term. The committee is expected to vote on the proposal and deliver it to the National Assembly as early as the 14th of this month.

A national referendum on amending the Constitution requires at least 38 days from the passage of a bill for the constitutional amendment. The Constitution requires at least 20 days of public notice of a constitutional amendment that has passed the National Assembly. The National Referendum Act requires both the constitutional amendment bill and the voting date to be announced no later than 18 days before the vote. Assuming the early presidential election is in early June, the constitutional amendment bill must be passed by the National Assembly by the end of April.

However, the National Referendum Act could be amended to shorten the notice period, which would buy time until the presidential election. The current National Referendum Act needs to be amended because it restricts overseas voting, which has been ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. “There is already a proposal to amend the National Referendum Act, so if we have the will to amend the Constitution this time, we can meet the deadline,” Woo said. He also suggested that a National Assembly’s special committee on constitutional amendment be formed as soon as possible.

It is unclear whether the constitu”ional amendment will be a major agenda item in the upcoming presidential election. Due to the short presidential election period, there is not enough time for each party to discuss the constitutional amendment, and opposition from DPK lawmakers of the pro-Lee Jae-myung faction immediately came out. “I’m against it,” DPK lawmaker Jung Chung-rae said on social media, adding, ”Now is the time to focus on ending the insurgency, not distracting people’s attention with the constitutional amendment.”

DPK leader Lee Jae-myung, a leading presidential candidate, did not comment on Woo’s proposal. Other presidential candidates from the DPK, including Kim Dong-yeon, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, Kim Kyung-soo, former Governor of South Gyeongsang Province, and former Prime Minister Kim Bu-gyeom, all welcomed Woo’s proposal.

The People Power Party (PPP) also did not comment on the issue. “No one said anything (about the constitutional amendment),” Shin Dong-wook, a senior spokesperson for the PPP, told reporters after a meeting of the party’s senior lawmakers.