[26.02.03] Constitution Day Restored as Public Holiday After 18 Years

Constitution Day Restored as Public Holiday After 18 Years…Approved by National Assembly

📍Bill to redesignate Constitution Day as public holiday passed…Effective from July 17 this year

Constitution Day (July 17) will be reinstated as a public holiday after 18 years.

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🔹 National Assembly passes bill to restore Constitution Day holiday
On the 29th, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Act on Public Holidays to redesignate Constitution Day as a public holiday, with 198 votes in favor, 2 against, and 3 abstentions out of 203 lawmakers present.

🔹 All five national holidays to become public holidays
Under the current law, only four of the five national holidays—March 1st Movement Day, Liberation Day, National Foundation Day, and Hangeul Day—were designated as public holidays, excluding Constitution Day. The core of the amendment is to expand public holiday designation to all national holidays, thereby restoring Constitution Day’s status. 

🔹 First restoration since exclusion in 2008
Constitution Day commemorates the promulgation of the Constitution on July 17, 1948, and was designated a national holiday. However, it was excluded from public holidays starting in 2008. This followed a 2005 revision of regulations during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, reflecting concerns over reduced working hours with the introduction of the five-day workweek.

🔹 Ongoing criticism that Constitution Day became “forgotten”
Since then, criticism has continued that the significance of the Constitution—the foundation of the democratic republic—has faded and that Constitution Day effectively became a “forgotten day.”

🔹 President Lee Jae-myung expressed support for restoration
President Lee Jae-myung has also expressed support for designating Constitution Day as a public holiday. During a senior aides’ meeting on July 17 last year, marking the 77th Constitution Day, he said, “Although Constitution Day commemorates the enactment and promulgation of the Constitution, it is the only national commemorative day called a ‘day’ that is not a holiday,” adding that “there is a need to review making it a public holiday.”

🔹 Bipartisan initiative consolidated into committee alternative
The bill was proposed separately by Democratic Party lawmakers Lim Oh-kyung, Yoon Ho-jung, Choi Ki-sang, Lee Yong-woo, and Kwak Sang-eon, and by People Power Party lawmakers Na Kyung-won and Kang Dae-sik. The National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee consolidated and adjusted the proposals into a committee alternative.

🔹 Effective three months after promulgation…applies from this year
The amendment will take effect three months after promulgation, meaning Constitution Day will be observed as a public holiday starting this year.

Choi Ki-sang, the Democratic Party lawmaker who introduced the bill, said, “Constitution Day was the only one of the five national holidays excluded from public holidays,” adding that “by restoring Constitution Day as a public holiday, the aim is for citizens, the sovereign of the nation, to commemorate the Constitution and to reaffirm constitutional values so that state power is exercised in accordance with the Constitution.”

One-line summary : Constitution Day has been restored as a public holiday after 18 years and will take effect from July 17 this year.