Minor liberal Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP) Chairman Cho Kuk proposed a plan, Friday, to shorten President Yoon Suk Yeol’s single, five-year term by revising the Constitution, urging the president to “honorably agree with the shortened term.”During a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, the party presented the constitutional amendment plan, featuring the proposal to make the president serve a maximum of two four-year terms. The RKP has secured 12 out of 300 seats in the upcoming 22nd National Assembly.“I propose holding a national referendum on the issue ahead of the local elections in June 2026 and consolidating the next presidential election with the local elections,” Cho said.“Holding the presidential and local elections concurrently can significantly curtail the waste of national resources. We can reduce the waste of national resources by holding the presidential and local elections at the same time. After amending the Constitution, we can introduce an additional clause to shorten the term of the incumbent president.”The proposal is in line with the party’s campaign to impeach Yoon. Cho has been promoting the idea of impeachment, stating that the president can be ousted if there is “evidence that he is not abiding by the Constitutional order.”
Given the bitter experience of impeaching former President Park Geun-hye in 2017 and the ensuing political turmoil, pundits say not only politicians but also the general public has become more cautious about the issue of impeachment. Against this backdrop, the RKP’s push to shorten the president’s term is viewed as a strategic move to potentially facilitate a de facto impeachment.“Should President Yoon honorably agree to shorten his term and endorse the Constitutional amendment we propose, he will be remembered in history as a president who contributed to changing the country’s Constitution, despite any past failures, incompetence or irresponsibility within his administration,” Cho said.The proposal came amid the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea’s (DPK) own push to amend the Constitution to include the spirit of the 1980 democratic uprising into the full text of the Constitution. At the same time, the DPK, which has secured 175 seats for the upcoming Assembly, is floating the idea of weakening presidential veto power, thereby targeting Yoon.Meanwhile, the ruling People Power Party also welcomes stipulating the spirit of the 1980 democratic uprising into the Constitution, but flatly refused to oppose any limits on the presidential veto power.”The presidential veto power is the essence of the principle of separating legal, administrative and judicial powers, and limiting the veto power is equivalent to disavowing the Constitution,” PPP floor leader Rep. 카지노사이트킹 Choo Kyung-ho said.