The first constitutional amendment bid in 39 years failed to clear the National Assembly on Wednesday. As the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) signaled a hard-line response, including a filibuster against the re-tabling of the amendment, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik halted the plenary session just before the vote. The PPP shifted the blame for the failure onto the Democratic Party (DP), saying, "History will clearly judge this unilateral push for amendment aimed at dictatorship." The DP called it "a case of filibuster abuse" and raised the possibility of revising the National Assembly Act, signaling continued fallout.
Speaker Woo convened the plenary session that day but soon abandoned plans to re-table the amendment and declared adjournment. "The People Power Party invalidated the vote by not participating yesterday, and today they say they will conduct unlimited debate," Woo said. "I will no longer table the constitutional amendment and will halt this procedure as of today."
During the adjournment, Woo struck the gavel forcefully, showing heightened emotion, and shed tears during his remarks. "If the People Power Party does not participate in the vote, can't we resolve it either in favor or against?" he said. "I truly cannot understand how they would hold even the agreed-upon livelihood bills hostage." He added, "I hope the constitutional amendment special committee, which failed to be formed, will definitely be established in the second half (of the 22nd National Assembly)."
The attempt to hold the constitutional amendment vote concurrently with the June 3 local elections was blocked by the failure of the plenary session. The PPP, which had set its party line against the ruling bloc-led amendment drive, responded sharply by warning of a filibuster against the re-tabling plan. Speaker Woo appears to have abandoned the amendment effort, judging that passage was unlikely without the PPP's cooperation even if a filibuster were forcibly ended. For a constitutional amendment to pass the Assembly, at least two-thirds of registered lawmakers must approve, which would require at least 12 defecting votes from the PPP.
After the plenary session ended, the Blue House expressed regret. "We express regret that the processing of the constitutional amendment ultimately failed due to opposition from People Power Party lawmakers," it said. Chief Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said, "We ask lawmakers to continue discussions on constitutional amendment with a more responsible attitude in the second half of the National Assembly and keep their promise to the people." She added, "The Blue House will continue to steadfastly push forward the constitutional amendment debate, a task of our times, together with the people."
Han Byung-do, DP floor leader, hinted at revising the law, saying, "We cannot but revise the National Assembly Act regarding cases of filibuster abuse. We will actively review it." He added, "I think the Speaker (newly elected in the second half) will naturally push for constitutional amendment suited to this era and situation," indicating intent to resume the amendment drive after the Assembly's reorganization in the second half.
The PPP, meanwhile, rebutted the "blame for failure" argument, claiming there were procedural problems with re-tabling the vote itself. PPP floor leader Song Eon-seok argued, "Yesterday, a majority of registered lawmakers attended, exceeding the so-called voting quorum. It was clearly rejected because the number of approval votes was insufficient, and therefore tabling it again (in the same session) violates the principle of no repeated decisions on the same matter." He added, "Against this clearly unconstitutional act, the Speaker unilaterally opened a plenary session without agreement, leaving us no choice but to respond with a filibuster."
Some analysts suggest that it was difficult to secure PPP cooperation given the intensified ruling-opposition confrontation, with the DP pushing through prosecution and judicial reform bills followed by a special counsel bill targeting "Yoon Suk-yeol's political prosecution fabrication of investigations and indictments." Within opposition circles, suspicions have also been raised that the DP, believing from the start that passage of the amendment was unlikely, may have sought to shift the blame for failure onto the PPP.
There are also assessments that neither the ruling nor opposition parties had strong will for constitutional amendment itself. One DP lawmaker said, "Lawmakers, for whom passage of the amendment would only result in credit going to Speaker Woo, are frankly not interested." However, since Reps. Cho Jeong-sik, Kim Tae-nyeon, and Park Jie-won—all candidates for the second-half Speaker election in the 22nd National Assembly—have all pledged constitutional amendment, there are forecasts that the flame of amendment discussions could be rekindled after the local elections. Recent polls have shown support for constitutional amendment at around 60 percent, roughly double the level of opposition.
