President, Vice-President System and Four-year Reappointment System

Five lawmakers who belong to the `consultation of the leading lawmakers for the reform of the politics`, such as lawmakers of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) Chung Dae-Chul, Kim Keun-Tae, and Chung Dong-Young, and lawmakers of the Grand National Party (GNP) Kim Duk-Ryong and vice-president Lee Boo-Young, suggested yesterday to carry out the next presidential election according to the new constitution by completing the amendment of the constitution, which introduces the president and vice-president system and the 4-year reappointment system, before the local election next year.

They said at the joint press conference yesterday, "As bad effects of the single-term system for the presidency can be no longer left unsettled, the responsible politics should be realized through the amendment of the president and vice-president system and the 4-year reappointment system. We urge President Kim Dae-Jung to make efforts to draw an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties."

They also argued that "the environment, in which President can concentrate on the national affairs apart from the political strife, should be created by prohibiting President from holding concurrent post of the president of the ruling party. Also, the free voting system, by which lawmakers can vote according to one`s own conviction with reference to the party`s opinion, should be legislated in the National Assembly Law and the party law." In addition to this, they also proposed the following as plans for the political reform; to make the upward (bottom to top) nomination system mandatory; to abolish the spokesperson system; to expand the system of public hearing on personnel management; to institutionalize the special prosecutor system; to legislate the three prohibitory laws, that is, to ban the political retaliation, to ban the discrimination based on regional difference, to ban the political involvement of relatives to transfer the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea into the National Assembly.

Kim Jeong-Hun jnghn@donga.com