Constitution Day to be reinstated as public holiday this year

▲ President Lee Jae Myung (R) speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Feb. 3, 2026. (Yonhap)

Constitution Day-holiday

Constitution Day to be reinstated as public holiday this year

SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- Constitution Day will be restored as a public holiday for the first time in 18 years, officials said Tuesday.

Observed annually on July 17, Constitution Day had been a public holiday until it was reclassified in 2008 as a commemorative day, after which government offices and businesses no longer closed for the occasion.

The Cabinet approved a revision to the Public Holidays Act earlier in the day to reinstate Constitution Day as an official holiday, according to the Ministry of Personnel Management.

The revised law will take effect three months after promulgation.

Among South Korea's five national commemorative days, Constitution Day was the only one that was not designated as a public holiday.

Last July, Lee instructed senior aides and secretaries to review the possibility of reinstating it as a public holiday marking the 77th anniversary of Constitution Day.

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