[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Seo-young] The Central Election Commission announced that President Moon Jae-in's term will end at midnight on May 9th next year.
On the 18th, the Central Election Commission stated in a response submitted to Park Wan-soo, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the People Power Party, "The start date of President Moon's term is May 10, 2017, the date the winner was confirmed, according to the proviso of Article 14, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Act, and the term expiration date is midnight on May 9, 2022."
The current Public Official Election Act stipulates that the presidential term "begins at 0:00 on the day following the expiration date of the previous president's term." However, for presidential elections due to a vacancy such as impeachment, it only mentions that "the term begins from the time the winner is confirmed."
Because of this, there has been controversy over the exact end date of President Moon's term. President Moon was elected in the early election held on May 9, 2017, following the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, and his election was confirmed on the morning of the 10th, when he was inaugurated. This caused confusion over whether the term ends at midnight on May 9 or midnight on May 10, 2022.
Representative Park Wan-soo explained, "This controversy arose because there were no separate provisions regarding the expiration of the term for a president elected due to a vacancy of the previous president." He added, "Reflecting the opinions of the Election Commission, we plan to push for amendments to the Public Official Election Act to clearly define the start and end dates of the term for presidents elected due to a vacancy."
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