National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik proposed holding a national referendum on constitutional revision along with the June 3 local elections. The core of the amendment is to ease the conditions for lifting martial law and to incorporate the spirit of the May 18 democratization movement into the preamble of the Constitution. Woo asked the ruling and opposition parties to form a special parliamentary committee on constitutional amendment within this month and to introduce a constitutional amendment bill by next month.
Woo held an emergency press conference at the National Assembly on the morning of the 10th and said, "With the revision of the National Referendum Act, the procedural obstacles to constitutional revision have been removed," and "I propose that we open the door to amendment with a constitution that makes illegal martial law unimaginable."
He went on, "The illegal Dec. 3 martial law plunged the public and all political forces into great pain and turmoil," and "There was overwhelming public consensus that if the National Assembly demands the lifting of martial law, it should be lifted immediately, and if parliamentary approval is not obtained within 48 hours of a martial law declaration, it should immediately and automatically become null and void."
Woo also said, "We must further cement the constitutional spirit of democracy. In addition to the April 19 democratic ideals in the current preamble, there has long been a broad discussion about specifying major democratization movements," adding, "In particular, both the ruling and opposition parties promised the public to include the spirit of May 18 in the preamble."
He added, "I also propose including the spirit of balanced regional development. The Constitution should stipulate the state's responsibility to resolve regional imbalances and to achieve balanced regional development," and said, "Through a phased amendment, let's make sure to succeed in revising the Constitution this time."
To advance the amendment, Woo requested forming the parliamentary special committee on constitutional revision by the 17th and introducing an amendment bill by the 7th of next month. Citing the will of the ruling and opposition parties and the National Assembly's responsibility, he stressed that failing to achieve amendment this time would amount to "abdication of political responsibility."
Woo said, "It is a constitutional amendment after 39 years, and some may want to discuss as many agenda items as possible, but this time let's do only what we can," adding, "It is desirable to fully review and discuss later the issues of the power structure, basic rights, and soft constitution."
Woo was reportedly in prior contact with leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to push for amendment alongside the local elections. In particular, in the case of the People Power Party, it is said to have responded to Woo's amendment proposal by saying it would "review it."
Park Tae-seo, senior public relations secretary to the National Assembly speaker, said, "It seems (Speaker Woo) found some hopeful points in the process of contacting leadership-level figures of several parties," adding, "In particular, in the case of the main opposition party (People Power Party), compared with its previous stance, I think there has been a considerably more advanced current of change."