South Korea’s Lee says he has no intention of seeking second term

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday he had no intention of seeking a second term in office, which is barred under the current constitution.

There have been questions about whether Lee and his Democratic Party, which holds a parliamentary majority, might try to amend the constitution to enable him to seek re-election.

“Let me say this firmly. I have no intention of seeking a consecutive term whatsoever,” he said at a televised news conference.

Lee said in a post on X in August he favoured changing the country’s presidency ​to a four-year term system that would allow a president to ‌serve more than one term while transferring some presidential powers to parliament.

The presidency is currently restricted to a single five-year term by South Korea’s constitution, and the sitting president is specifically excluded from any amendment on the presidency.

Lee also said he would push ahead with easing the concentration of the current capital, Seoul, and creating a separate economic capital, Seoul, and a political capital in Sejong.

Many government agencies are already located in Sejong, in South Korea’s central region and about 120km (75 miles) south of Seoul.