National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik has proposed holding a national referendum on constitutional amendments concurrently with the presidential election.

Woo made the proposal on Sunday during a news conference at the National Assembly, emphasizing the need to reform the country’s power structure.

The speaker highlighted public calls for the reform of what he called the country’s imperial presidential system and winner-takes-all political framework, which are widely regarded as the root causes of severe political conflict.

Woo urged the political community to work toward an agreement on constitutional revisions before the presidential election, adding that any incomplete amendments could be revisited during the local elections scheduled for next year.

Additionally, Woo proposed that political parties pursue changes to the Referendum Act for the sake of passing the constitutional amendments and establish a special parliamentary committee dedicated to the matter.