The Presidential Committee on Policy Planning, which serves as the transition committee for the Lee Jae-myung administration, has prioritized constitutional reform for the decentralization of power as a key national agenda. It is expected that topics such as the four-year re-election system mentioned by President Lee Jae-myung during the presidential campaign will be addressed. The committee will also initiate reforms in law enforcement agencies by reallocating their functions. The prosecution will separate investigation and prosecution, while the police will focus on enhancing political neutrality, including the abolition of the National Police Agency.
On the 12th, the Presidential Committee on Policy Planning presented national agenda items containing these matters during a report to the public held at the Blue House's state guesthouse. The committee included the reform of power institutions, such as constitutional amendments and reforms of the prosecution, police, Board of Audit and Inspection, and judiciary, in its fifth major national goal of 'politics unifying the people.'
The Presidential Committee on Policy Planning specified 'constitutional amendments for a real Korea' as its top national agenda item. Detailed contents of the constitutional reform are expected to include President Lee's campaign pledges: ▲a four-year re-election system ▲the introduction of a runoff system for presidential elections ▲the recommendation of the prime minister by the National Assembly ▲limitations on the right to demand reconsideration (veto). Additionally, it is likely to include ▲the inclusion of the spirit of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement in the constitutional preamble ▲strengthening basic rights of the people ▲decentralization.
As the Lee Jae-myung administration advocates for a 'people's sovereignty government,' the constitutional amendment will be discussed in a participatory manner. The committee's political and administrative division emphasizes a government of listening and communication, proposing 'a constitutional amendment made by and for the people.' It plans to use the Presidential Committee of National Cohesion as a deliberative body and establish the National Citizen Participation Committee to promote civic engagement.
Lee Hae-sik, head of the political and administrative division of the Presidential Committee on Policy Planning, noted during the public report that, 'We will create a competent government that realizes national unity,' and added, 'We will push for a constitutional amendment that is created by and for the people in order to close the chapter on the 1987 system and open a new era.'
Reforms of the prosecution and police will also accelerate. The committee plans to complete prosecution reform by separating investigation and prosecution. It will abolish the prosecution service and establish the Public Prosecution Service under the Ministry of Justice and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The aim is to depoliticize the Ministry of Justice and normalize legal administration. However, the establishment of the National Investigation Committee under the Prime Minister's Office was not announced during the public report.
Regarding police reform, plans have been made to abolish the police agency established during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and substantiate the National Police Commission. This means enhancing the status of the National Police Commission, which is currently at the advisory level, to prevent the police from gaining undue power. The aim is to strengthen decentralization by piloting the community police system, which focuses on local public safety, and then fully implementing it.
The committee member explained, 'We will abolish the prosecution service, which has abused its power through targeted investigations,' adding, 'We will substantiate the National Police Commission to ensure democratic control of the police, which will have relatively enhanced powers, and the community police system will be piloted before being fully implemented.'