President Moon Jae-in on Friday reaffirmed his campaign pledge to complete a constitutional revision by June next year, an opposition leader said, amid continuing calls to address the current concentration of power in a single state leader, a situation long blamed for corruption and political polarization.
The new president made the remarks during a luncheon meeting with the floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party, main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), People's Party, Bareun Party and Justice Party, Chung Woo-taik, the LKP whip, told reporters.
"I'm a person who has some sort of obsession (to fulfill) what I have said," Moon was quoted by Chung as saying during the meeting at the presidential office.
During his campaign, Moon called for changing the current single-term, five-year presidency into a four-year presidency with the possibility for re-election, limited to two terms, saying that the change would help ensure consistent policy implementation with long-term visions.
Regarding the timing of the revision, Moon has pledged to hold a referendum for the change in tandem with gubernatorial and mayoral elections slated for June 2018.
During the meeting with political leaders, Moon also proposed instituting a regular consultative body involving officials from the government as well as the ruling and opposition parties in an apparent bid to enhance cooperation with the opposition-led legislature.
Ensuring smooth cooperation with the opposition bloc is seen as crucial for the new president, as their support is needed to pass any contested legislation to carry out his campaign pledges.
Moon's party currently holds 120 seats in the 299-seat parliament. By law, a contested bill can only be sent to a plenary session for a vote with the consent of at least 60 percent of the sitting lawmakers, or 180 seats. (Yonhap)
