Three parties seek four-year, two-term presidency

Published : Mar 17, 2017 - 12:03 Updated : Mar 17, 2017 - 12:03

South Korea's three major parties excluding the biggest Democratic Party are seeking to revise the Constitution to adopt a four-year, two-term presidency while shortening the next president's tenure to three years. The Korean president currently serves a single, five-year term.

Earlier this week, the Liberty Korea Party, the People's Party, and the Bareun Party agreed to push to hold a referendum on the revision of the Constitution concurrently with the presidential election slated for May 9.

South Korea's Seoul-based National Assembly headquarter (Yonhap)

The parties also proposed reducing the term of the upcoming 19th president to three years, while guaranteeing that he or she can run in the 20th presidential election. In that case, the next president could potentially be in the top elected office for as long as 11 years.

The country plans to hold the presidential election on May 9 following the ouster of President Park Geun-hye last week over a corruption scandal.

A constitutional motion can be proposed with the consent of more than 150 lawmakers, and passed by the approval of two-thirds, or 200, of the 300-seat parliament. The three parties currently hold 165 seats. (Yonhap)