The People Power Party (PPP) has urged President Lee Jae-myung to clearly declare to the public that he will not seek a second consecutive or extended term in office.
"President Lee ultimately did not give a direct answer to the demand that he preemptively declare he will not seek a second or extended term," PPP spokesperson Choi Su-jin said in a statement Friday. "Is the single sentence 'I will only serve one term as president' really that difficult to say?"
"If he genuinely has no intention of seeking reelection, there is no need for lengthy explanations," Choi added.
President Lee had previously responded to PPP leader Chang Dong-hyuk's demand to renounce reelection by saying "constitutional amendment for reelection is impossible because the opposition holds a veto line for constitutional revision."
Choi criticized this response, saying, "Conversely, this could be interpreted as meaning he would pursue constitutional amendment for reelection anytime if the opposition did not hold the veto line. There is a clear difference between 'cannot do' because of legal and political circumstances and 'will not do' by one's own will."
Choi also cited constitutional provisions to argue that President Lee's response was inappropriate. "Article 128, Paragraph 2 of our Constitution clearly stipulates that constitutional amendments to extend a president's term do not apply to the sitting president," she said. "As a former lawyer, President Lee cannot be unaware of this fact."
"Nevertheless, deliberately invoking political impossibility appears to be a ploy to keep the embers of constitutional amendment alive," Choi argued.
"Dragging out with lengthy talk about the opposition's constitutional veto line what could typically be settled with one sentence only raises more questions," Choi noted.
"President Lee should promise clearly to the public, even now, that any constitutional amendment would not apply to himself and that there will be no second or extended term," she urged. "That one statement could put the public's concerns to rest."