Speaker of the National Assembly and Floor Leaders of the Three Major Parties Unite in Voice: "End Polarization and Restore Politics"

Attending the Publication Ceremony of 'Development Plans for Korean Democracy in the Era of Political Polarization'
Kim Jin-pyo "Election System of Winner-Takes-All Must Be Improved"

"Let us work in the National Assembly to complete the election law negotiations and enter full-scale constitutional amendment discussions."

On the 18th, Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo said at the publication ceremony of 'Development Plans for Korean Democracy in the Era of Political Polarization' held at the National Assembly Library, "The conflicts in income, region, and generation within our society are becoming increasingly severe, and there are tremendous crises overlapping such as the economic conditions surrounding us and the international security situation, but there is criticism that politics is not responding properly."

Speaker Kim emphasized, "In my Constitution Day congratulatory speech, I mentioned that to create a politics of dialogue and compromise, the starting point must be to improve the winner-takes-all election system so that all political parties participating in the political arena can institutionalize dialogue and compromise," adding, "The conclusion should be to institutionalize decentralization and cooperation through constitutional amendment."

On the 18th, Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo and the floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties attended the book launch event titled "Development Plans for Korean Democracy in the Era of Political Polarization" held at the National Assembly.
From the left, Yoon Jae-ok, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, Speaker Kim, and Park Kwang-on, Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. July 18, 2023.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Constitution Day, Speaker Kim previously proposed submitting a constitutional amendment including a four-year renewable presidential term, multiple nominations of the Prime Minister by the National Assembly, and abolition of the parliamentary immunity from arrest to a national referendum during the general election in April next year.

Speaker Kim said, "There is a broad consensus in our society on the need to revise the constitution to reflect the social changes since 1987." He continued, "The four-year renewable presidential term can enhance the president's political accountability and enable stable national governance planning," and explained, "The abolition of parliamentary immunity from arrest means explicitly stating in the constitution the promise already made by both ruling and opposition parties to the people." He also added, "If the National Assembly recommends multiple candidates for Prime Minister and the president appoints one of the recommended candidates as Prime Minister, the Prime Minister will be able to fulfill the role of a responsible Prime Minister."

The publication ceremony was held to commemorate a book created by six members of the National Assembly (Lee Myung-soo, Choi Hyung-doo, Kim Jong-min, Kim Young-bae, Lee Eun-joo, Jo Jeong-hoon) and 24 others from the Korea Institute of Public Administration, the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Korean Political Science Association. They compiled the opinions shared through three roundtable discussions into the book.

Yoon Jae-ok, floor leader of the People Power Party, who attended the publication ceremony, said, "Rather than polarization, I want to gather hearts together to compromise, embrace, and unify, but the reality is very difficult," adding, "The ruling and opposition parties always think that we should quickly return to the original form of parliamentary politics as intended by this book."

Park Kwang-on, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, also said, "I hope that, as stated in this book, a minimum device can be prepared through election system reform to improve the vested interests of the two major parties and incumbent lawmakers," adding, "Ahead of the election system reform, each party is calculating advantages and disadvantages, and individual lawmakers are considering whether it affects their election results. It is regrettable that the institutional reform necessary to restore politics and regain trust is actually very sluggish."

Bae Jin-kyo, floor leader of the Justice Party, also emphasized, "Now is the time to produce results," and said, "We need to talk about ways to resolve political polarization while returning the role of the National Assembly to the people."