문희상 의장 "연내 개헌 추친돼야... 특활비 폐지도 검토"

The National Assembly Speaker held a press conference today to mark his inauguration.
Moon Hee-sang... vowed to stimulate the drive for Constitutional amendment again,... and carry out various measures to ensure it's trusted by the people.
Kim Min-ji has the latest from parliament.
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang says drawing up a proposal in parliament to amend the country's Constitution shouldn't be a problem -- if the rival parties can communicate closely and put themselves in each other's shoes.
Speaking at a press conference marking his inauguration Wednesday,... Moon said constitutional revision is the last phase of the "candlelight revolution," a movement sparked by flaws of an imperialistic presidential system.

"Along with changing the country's power structure,... there's a public consensus on almost all areas of the Constitution. Through talks, Parliament's special committee on Constitutional revision has also been able to make substantial progress. I will meet with the party floor leaders frequently so that we can craft a proposal."

As for the controversy over the "special activity funds" handed out to ranking lawmakers every month,... Moon said his goal is to either get rid of them altogether,... or to come up with measures that could make the scheme more transparent.
Some lawmakers receive thousands of U.S. dollars a month, on top of their salary.... and there are questions about how the money is spent... since that's not information they have to report.

"Transparency is required in all cases. The funds should only be used in areas that are absolutely necessary. Apart from that, the payments need to be scrapped or reduced. Parliament gets a full one percent of all the special activity funds given to government bodies,... so we all need to discuss the issue and reach a conclusion. The rival parties have agreed to work on with measures to deal with this issue."

And amid concerns that the National Assembly has lost the public's trust,... Moon vowed that measures will be discussed by the parties... to ensure that nothing causes legislative affairs to stall,... even partisan wrangling.
On developments regarding North Korea,... the speaker said he will lead efforts to adopt a resolution in support of the 'Panmunjom Declaration,' and later, even the ratification of the agreement.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.