President Lee Calls for Constitutional Reform and Offers to Broker U.S.-North Korea Talks

President Lee Jae Myung says South Korea needs constitutional reform to strengthen presidential responsibility and distribute power, arguing that democracy won through immense sacrifice must not face another threat.\n\nIn a written interview with the French daily Le Monde during his visit to France, Lee said the reform would focus on preventing a repeat of the political crisis triggered by former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024. He said the proposed changes would tighten the requirements for declaring emergency martial law and include the spirit of the May 18 Democratic Movement in the Constitution’s preamble.\n\nLee also called for judicial and military reforms to prevent the concentration and abuse of power, protect the constitutional order and prepare more actively for modern and future forms of warfare. On North Korea, he acknowledged that long-standing distrust would not disappear after only a few gestures. Even so, he said South Korea would serve as a “pacemaker” to promote the resumption of talks between North Korea and the United States. He did not explicitly use the term denuclearization, but said the process could include effective measures to restrain North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.\n\nLee said he did not believe President Donald Trump questioned the sustainability of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. Rather, he understood Trump’s position as a call to adapt the alliance to changing conditions. Lee said Seoul would increase defense spending, expand key military capabilities and take on a greater role and share of the burden.\n\nReferring to comments by French President Emmanuel Macron about cooperation among independent countries, Lee said closer cooperation among states that share values such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law was important. He described South Korea’s preferred approach as practical and open cooperation among capable countries, alongside efforts to strengthen national self-reliance and develop existing alliances in line with current realities.

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The president needs constitutional reform to strengthen responsibility and properly distribute authority.