With her right wrist wrapped up, Michelle Wie of Honolulu walks up the second fairway of Waialae Country Club with coach Sean Hogan, right, during a practice round of the Sony Open PGA Tour golf event in Honolulu, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007.



President Suggests Revision of Constitution

President Roh Moo Hyun suggested to the National Assembly and to his people, a discussion on revising the constitution to change the current single five year term of president to four years with possibility of reelection during a special public statement in the morning of January 9.

Roh gave suggestion while referring to politics on a live TV broadcast at Chunchoo Hall in Cheong Hwa Dae at 11:30 am. The president suggested discussion on the matter of amending the constitution and proclaimed that he is willing to employ the initiative of amendments, which the president holds by law, in the future.

The president made a point that with the current five years of the presidential system, which was a fruitful achievement through the June contention in 1987, there are heavy restrictions on the regional structure and frames of various combined political parties in the process of operating national administration. He also emphasized that appropriate revision of the constitution should be undertaken that suits changes of the times.

Roh said, “With a future government, the amendment would be, as matter of a fact, impossible. This is the only opportunity to revise the bill without shortening the term of president and the National Assembly members. If this suggestion misses its chance, it has to wait another twenty years.”

The main subject of revision is to correct the clause, ‘The term of presidential office must be five years and reappointment is prohibited.’ This is Article 70 of the current constitution and the revision would shorten the term to four years. The essential features are proposal of ‘four years of reelected presidential system’ which would make it possible for an incumbent president to keep the office for four more years.

Officials at Cheong Hwa Dae said, “There are two terms of reappointment. The first one means the term of office can be continued just once. The second one says any former president who gets reelected can stand as the president of the nation for one more term. The suggestion made by Roh holds for ‘four year reelection,’ which means a president could maintain the position for one more term.”

One member of a political party emphasized, “Proposing a revision is a legal procedure which takes quite a bit of time. This statement is focused on the necessity of constitutional revision concerning the current presidential fixed-term system.”

The present constitution states, “A revised bill can be proposed by a majority of the National Assembly members or the president and a bill is confirmed as an amendment through passing the National Assembly and public vote.”
/ 입력시간: 2007. 01.10. 09:22