President Lee says no one stands above the Constitution

President Lee Jae Myung said Friday that "no one should try to reign above the Constitution" and pledged to uphold "the simplest yet most fundamental principle — that the people are the masters of this nation," speaking at a ceremony marking Constitution Day.

Lee hosted the citizen event at Cheong Wa Dae's state banquet hall to mark Constitution Day on Friday.

The Committee of Light, a presidential advisory body, held its first meeting on Monday and officially launched with a mandate to document and carry forward the civic participation and solidarity shown in defense of the Constitution and democracy during the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration.

"I have always wondered why Constitution Day — the day we established the supreme law of the Republic of Korea — was not a public holiday," Lee said. "That is clear evidence that the state has long taken lightly the significance of the Constitution and the weight it carries."

He added that "the core principle of the Constitution is that the state is the people, and all power flows from the people." The government would "build a society where the Constitution, as the supreme law, is genuinely respected," he said, noting that Constitution Day has been redesignated as a national public holiday starting this year.

"We have gathered here to reaffirm the spirit of popular sovereignty enshrined in the Constitution and to commemorate the revolution of light — the moment the people defended democracy with their own hands," Lee said.

Lee said the state exists to serve the people and that all state power derives from them. "State power must be used solely for the benefit of the people and the future of the nation," he said.

Public officials elected as representatives of the people must use their authority and budgets exclusively for the people and the nation's future, he said. "Responsibility is proportional to the power granted, and that responsibility extends to everyone," he added.

Lee credited citizens with restoring democracy during former President Yoon Suk Yeol's emergency martial law declaration on Dec. 3 last year.

"The emergency martial law made us realize that the threat to democracy is not a thing of the past — it can happen again at any time, even in today's Republic of Korea," he said. "We still remember that tense moment when helicopters carrying martial law troops cut across the skies above Seoul and armed special forces broke through the windows of the National Assembly."

"Citizens braved the bitter midwinter cold and rushed to the National Assembly," Lee said. "Thanks to them, the Assembly was able to lift the emergency martial law and restore the Constitution and democracy of the Republic of Korea."

The event also featured a special screening of "Ran 12.3," a documentary by film director Lee Myung-se. Taking the stage, the director said he was glad to screen the film on Friday in the presence of the president and first lady — "the true lead actors of this film" — and the citizens who did not stop on the asphalt that night, adding that he had regretted not having actors alongside him at the opening, as is customary.

The event drew about 100 attendees, including Park Mi-kyung, chair of the Committee of Light; Choi Hwa-sik, a retired Army brigadier general who stood in confrontation with martial law troops outside the National Assembly on the night of the declaration; civic activists; Finance and Economy Minister Koo Yun-cheol; and other senior cabinet and Cheong Wa Dae officials.