President Park Geun-hye sounded somewhat insensible when she voiced opposition to the ongoing parliamentary move to debate how to revise the Constitution during a meeting with her aides this week. She said it was time for the National Assembly to focus on passing bills aimed at reviving the economy, instead of paying attention to other matters.

Certainly, caution needs to be taken in pushing for the revision of the Constitution, which would have a far-reaching impact on the way the nation is run. But it would also be a dereliction of duty for a president or parliamentary members not to change the basic law, which is no longer fit for purpose.

Over the past years, calls have been mounting to amend the Constitution to change the presidential tenure from the current single five-year term preferably to two four-year terms and disperse some of the power that is concentrated in the president. The basic law was last revised in 1987, after decades of authoritarian rule by military-backed presidents. The restraint on the presidential term was designed to keep a president from attempting to hold on to power through illicit means.

The current system has been criticized for causing presidents to be preoccupied with achieving short-term goals while exerting excessive powers.

Based on this sentiment, more than half of the 300 parliamentary members have joined forces to push for a constitutional revision with the aim of drafting a new basic law by early next year.

It is an exaggerated concern that a constitutional debate would hamper efforts to reinvigorate the economy and boost people’s livelihoods. This logic would make it virtually impossible to revise the Constitution.

President Park has no grounds for objecting to lawmakers exercising their constitutional right to initiate a constitutional amendment. Now may be the proper time to begin the process of revising the basic law as political calculations could be minimized with the next presidential vote more than three years away.

Park may be concerned that the debate on how to change the power structure may overshadow the remainder of her presidency, which ends in early 2018. But she should adhere to her own campaign pledge to push for a constitutional amendment, especially one that would change the presidential term.