Countdown begins: South Korea moves toward presidential election

Clouds loom over the National Assembly building in Yeouido, Seoul. Im Se-jun/The Korea Herald

South Korea’s two major parties are fast switching into election mode with former President Yoon Suk Yeol effectively removed from office Friday.

The parties have less than two months to decide on a candidate through a primary, assemble a campaign team and get on the stump until Election Day.

Under South Korea’s election law, the authority to officially declare a presidential election date rests with the president or acting president. Acting President Han Duck-soo is expected to announce the date during a regular Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Political observers widely anticipate that the election will be scheduled for June 3.

Along with the presidential election, constitutional reform is back on the table.

Amending the Constitution, last revised in 1987, should be held simultaneously with the race for the presidency, Woo Won-shik, the speaker of the National Assembly, said Sunday. “I propose that we amend the Constitution the same day we elect the next president,” the speaker said.

Under the 1987 Constitution, South Korea’s presidents hold office for five years, without the possibility of reelection. The amendment being proposed by the speaker would let presidents serve a four-year term with the possibility of running for a second.

“We can no longer delay the most significant reform of the country’s power structure,” Woo said.

The People Power Party, which lost its ruling party status with Yoon’s removal, held a plenary meeting gathering all of the party’s lawmakers Sunday to discuss the coming election.

Unlike the Democratic Party of Korea, whose leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung has a huge edge over potential candidates for the party’s presidential nominee, the People Power Party does not yet have a stand-out contender.

Lee has yet to relinquish his post as the party’s leader and officially launch a presidential bid.

The Democratic Party continued its offensive against Yoon on Sunday, calling on the People Power Party to evict the former president from the party.

“The People Power Party wants to move on like Yoon Suk Yeol is already in the past. But if the party is truly sorry, the party would disown and expel the president from the party immediately,” Rep. Kim Yun-duck, the Democratic Party’s secretary-general, told reporters.

“The People Power Party doesn’t deserve a place in the presidential race if it does not recognize its responsibility for the distress its former president caused to the people.”

The Democratic Party secretary-general added that Yoon’s removal should not put the brakes on investigations of the former president and his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

Also on Sunday, minor liberal parties raised calls for a pan-liberal coalition against the People Power Party.

The minor Rebuilding Korea Party, founded by now-jailed Cho Kuk, who was justice minister for former President Moon Jae-in, called for an open primary involving all liberal party candidates. “To ensure a victory against the conservative bloc, a liberal coalition is necessary,” the party said in a statement Sunday.

The Democratic Party has not responded to the minor parties’ requests.

arin@heraldcorp.com