President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during the the Group of 20 summit at the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on Nov. 20. (Pool photo via Yonhap)

Talk of a constitutional amendment to ease the presidential term limit has reemerged in South Korea, with a new proposal allowing a president to seek reelection.

Chyung Dai-chul, a former lawmaker who served five terms until 2004, said Wednesday he would work to let either the legislature or the government finalize their proposal of an amendment to the Constitution by the end of 2025.

His proposal will allow presidents to serve a second term, while shortening the length of a single term from five to four years. That means the maximum time someone could be president would be eight years.

Chyung, who currently leads a nongovernmental Parliamentarian’s Society of the Republic of Korea, said Wednesday that the current set-up creates political difficulties because the terms of the president and lawmakers don't match up.

A president's term is five years, while lawmakers are elected every four years, so the relationship between the presidential office and the legislature changes each presidency.

The amendment would play a role of "resolving the enduring political confrontation," Chyung said Wednesday.

He added that Korea also lacks the mechanisms for dealing with political strife that exist in some Western European democracies, such as votes of no-confidence in the Cabinet and the dissolution of the parliament by the head of state.

Chyung's proposal, however, indicated that the amendment should not come into effect retroactively, meaning the proposal should not be used to reduce the five-year term of President Yoon Suk Yeol, an unpopular conservative leader.

Lee Si-jong, former two-term lawmaker and member of the Parliamentarians' Society, said it would take at least two years to amend the Constitution. Doing so would require a referendum as well as legislation "if proceeded under the constitutional order," he told The Korea Herald.

Lee also said the plan, alongside the proposed transition to the bicameral parliament, would allow South Korea to hold a presidential election and an upper house election in 2027, and have all of the elections -- for a president and both chambers -- take place in 2031.

South Korea's most recent amendment to the Constitution in 1987 stipulated that no president could be elected for a second term. The amendment, passed following massive democratic protests, also permitted the direct election of the president. Korea had undergone decades of rule by military juntas -- by late former Presidents Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan.

Former President Roh Moo-hyun offered to amend the current Constitution in his 2007 New Year's address to allow his successors to seek a second term to "enhance the president's responsibility in state affairs."

Roh added that a president was likely to experience heightened political conflict from general elections and local elections while in office.

Other amendments were suggested during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations. Then former President Moon Jae-in's office proposed a similar amendment to Roh's in 2018. Moon had been Roh's chief of staff.

None of their proposals bore fruit.

Recent amendment proposals have often been a way of attacking current President Yoon, who has been under siege amid multiple allegations, including most recently one concerning his and his wife's alleged influence-peddling in elections.

Current lawmakers have called for an amendment since the National Assembly kicked off its current term in May, after the ruling People Power Party suffered a crushing defeat in the general election in April.

Rep. Cho Kuk, a Moon ally and leader of the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party, repeated calls for the shortening of the presidential term in December 2023 and in May. But unlike previous proposals, he has insisted that the amendment be effective retroactively to reduce Yoon's term.

Yoon, while a prosecutor general under the Moon administration, led an investigation into Cho and his family over financial crimes and forgery of academic credentials to benefit their children. If Cho's conviction is upheld by the Supreme Court in a final ruling due on Dec. 12, it would remove him from the Assembly.

Public opinion remains divided over the proposed easing of the presidential term limit.

A 2023 survey by KBS showed that 51.4 percent of respondents said they preferred the amendment for two four-year presidential terms, and 44.2 percent answered that it would be more plausible to maintain the five-year single-term system.