Lee Jae Myung rules out term extension, aide says

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ruled out seeking another term through constitutional change, a senior presidential aide said Thursday, after Lee and some allies had floated reforms to the country's single-term presidency.

Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations and communication, told a South Korean radio programme that Lee's remarks in Paris on Sept. 9 meant a consecutive term was “completely impossible and not even a matter for consideration”.

Lee, speaking to South Koreans during a state visit to France, said his term was clearly limited under the constitution while explaining why he had scheduled many overseas visits.

South Korea adopted its current single five-year presidential term in 1987 as it moved away from decades of authoritarian rule. Lee said on social media in August that he favoured a four-year presidency allowing more than one term, alongside shifting some presidential powers to parliament.

National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik, formerly affiliated with Lee's Democratic Party, said in July that voters should decide whether an incumbent president could seek another term under a revised constitution.

Since Cho's remarks, the opposition People Power Party has accused Lee and his allies of considering a change that could allow him to stay in office. Lee's critics have also said a second term would extend the suspension of five criminal trials against him, including bribery charges linked to a firm's alleged illicit transfer of $8 million to North Korea.

Proposals to let South Korean presidents serve more than one term have repeatedly emerged since the 1987 constitutional revision but have failed amid political opposition. A Gallup Korea poll released last week put Lee's approval rating at 40 percent, its lowest level since he took office.