The Korea Times
Korea’s latest attempt at constitutional reform collapsed in the National Assembly last week, undone by the very partisan calculations that make reform necessary in the first place. At the heart of the failed amendment was a proposal both modest and profoundly important: to tighten constitutional safeguards on the use of martial law. Under the current Constitution, the president retains broad authority to declare martial law in times of war or national emergency, subject only to later review by the National Assembly. The proposed revision would have required prior parliamentary approval and made clear that a majority vote of lawmakers could immediately terminate any such declaration. In a democracy shaped by painful memories of authoritarian rule, this should not have been controversial. The amendment also sought to enshrine in the constitutional preamble the democratic legacy of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising and the Busan-Masan Democratic Protests. The conservative People Power Party largely boycotted the proceedings, denying the two-thirds majority required for constitutional amendment
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