Constitution Battle

[Anchor Lead]

The presidential draft on Constitutional amendment calling for a four-year, two-term presidency and lowering the voting age has been submitted to the Korean parliament. Now the bill must be voted on by the National Assembly within 60 days to go into effect. The opposition parties say they strongly oppose the Constitutional amendment as proposed by the president and vowed efforts to derail it.

[Pkg]

President Moon Jae-in's Constitutional amendment bill has been officially submitted to the National Assembly for vote. The bill had been reviewed at a Cabinet meeting presided over by the prime minister and electronically approved by the president, who is currently on an overseas tour. The National Assembly must finish voting on the bill within 60 days, by May 24. If more than two-thirds of the lawmakers vote in the favor of the bill, a national referendum will be held within 30 days. However, the ruling and opposition parties are at odds over the proposition to delegate more power to the nation's prime minister and the timing of the vote on the Constitutional amendment. The Liberty Korea Party, in particular, says that the Constitutional amendment bill is a dangerous attempt to establish socialist rule, and warned that it would block it by going on a strike.

[Soundbite] Kim Sung-tae (Liberty Korea Party) : "There is no other way to view this as an act of outrage by the obstinate Moon Jae-in administration. We urge the four opposition parties to discuss a joint response."

The Bareun Party, the Party for Democracy and Peace and the Justice Party also expressed opposition by saying that the Constitutional amendment must be carried out by the National Assembly. Now that the ball is in the National Assembly's court, the ruling Democratic Party is pressing the opposition camp to stop political bickering and start negotiations on the bill.