Roh: President should get a second term

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun proposed yesterday changing South Korea's constitution to allow future leaders to stand for two four-year terms instead of the current limit of a single five-year mandate.

Roh said there was enough consensus to make the change before his term ends in early 2008. But as he was elected under the current constitution, any change would only benefit his successors.

"I propose two four-year presidential terms," he told a rare nationally televised press conference. "The single five-year term adopted in 1987 aimed at preventing long-term rule has served its purpose."