<Anchor>
From the age of 16, the first year of high school, you will be able to join a political party. In addition, if you are over the age of 18, you can also run for the National Assembly, but the age at which you can run for the president has been left as it is.
Reporter Ki-tae Kim reports.
<Reporter>
A bill to lower the age at which members can join a political party from the current 18 to 16 was passed in the plenary session of the National Assembly.
An amendment to the law to lower the age to run for general and local elections from 25 to 18 was passed last month.
However, those under the age of 18 must submit the consent of their legal representative.
[Kang Ji-woon/17 years old: We ended up talking about politics and gender issues only with ourselves, but I think it’s good to be able to speak out directly.]
[Park In-suk/Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: By intervening politics with innocent students, the atmosphere of study is disturbed for nothing. I don't understand why adults intervene in students' politics.]
The remaining threshold for expanding suffrage is the age at which to run for president.
The current age is 40 or older, and it has been in the same place for 70 years since 1952.
The right to run for president is stipulated in the constitution, not the law, so to lower the age, the constitution needs to be amended.
It must go through a referendum with a 2/3 vote of the National Assembly members.
The National Assembly also passed a bill to amend the Public Official Election Act, which would allow terrestrial private broadcasters, including SBS, to broadcast the candidates' legal debates starting this election.