Hope for Assembly session

The National Assembly opened a month-long extraordinary session Monday to tackle crucial pending issues, including a constitutional revision bill proposed by President Moon Jae-in for the introduction of a four-year two-term presidency instead of the current five-year single one.

Moon will give a special address to explain the constitutional amendment under the partisan agreement during the Assembly gathering and lawmakers will conduct a three-day interpellation starting April 10, focusing on the revision bill and a 4 trillion won supplementary budget for job creation for young adults.

Since the special session is being held ahead of the June 13 local elections, the ruling and opposition parties are expected to engage in a tough struggle over the pending issue in an apparent bid to win voter support. First of all, the rival parties are at odds over the govern- ment’s power structure. The opposition camp in particular demands bolder measures to prevent the president from monopolizing power, including redistributing some power to the prime minister.

The summit between President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be held April 27 will certainly be hotly debated in the session as lawmakers of the rival parties differ over how to denuclearize the North.

As for the constitutional revision bill, the rival parties have to step up on deliberating it to produce a bill to put it to a national referendum no later than May 4, because Moon’s proposal stands a slim chance of passing through the Assembly due to the boycott of the opposition camp.

We hope the rival parties will do their best to produce successful results. They must work together to find solutions to the constitutional amendment and other matters related to the people’s livelihood.