People Power Party lawmaker Park Chung-kwon [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Park Chung-kwon [Yonhap]

The opposition on Tuesday blasted National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik over his remarks on constitutional reform, calling his conduct "a provocation that threatens the constitutional order by opening the door to extending the administration's hold on power."

People Power Party chief spokesperson Park Chung-kwon issued a statement Tuesday, saying, "It can never be tolerated to reduce the Constitution — the foundation of the state — to a tool for prolonging a regime's lifespan."

Park argued that "the most urgent task facing Speaker Jo is to correct the ruling party's unchecked legislative rampage and restore the spirit of cooperative governance that has been damaged," adding that "what the public wants from the National Assembly is not an event for the speaker to build a personal legacy, nor a politically motivated constitutional revision aimed at extending the administration's time in power."

Park added that the People Power Party "will never stand by and allow any attempt to destabilize the constitutional order by putting a speaker-affiliated body at the forefront, or to use constitutional reform as a smokescreen to absolve the ruling party's parliamentary dominance." He strongly urged Speaker Jo to "immediately halt discussions on a politically motivated constitutional revision and return to his core duty of checking the ruling party's legislative overreach and restoring the Assembly to normal functioning."

Party spokesperson Jo Yong-sul said in a separate statement that "strengthening the separation of powers — to correct a reality in which unchecked presidential authority shakes the legislature and the judiciary and extends its influence over various power institutions — must be the starting point for any constitutional reform debate." He argued that Speaker Jo "is in effect laying the groundwork for extending the power of the Lee Jae Myung administration, dressing up the issue of presidential re-election — which the current Constitution prohibits — in the plausible-sounding language of 'public opinion and the people's choice.'"

Jo said, "Is Speaker Jo the speaker of the Republic of Korea's National Assembly, or the chair of the Democratic Party's national convention?" He added, "What the public wants right now is not a constitutional reform debate aimed at extending the president's term, but the resumption of the suspended presidential trial in accordance with the law and principles."


mp1256@heraldcorp.com