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South Korea: Why the Constitution Needs to Play "Catch-Up"
A democracy is generally expected to be implemented in a country further than the extent of the actual government procedures and structure. Being a democratic country involves more than just elections, a parliament or congress, and an elected limited-term prime minister or president. It is a way of governance that needs to be strengthened and supported by a rule of law, namely the constitution. This is because other concepts of democracy, such as the respect towards human rights including freedom of speech, right to be a citizen, the right to vote for representative, among other things, cannot occur without a legal backing. This is precisely why, in comparing the timeline of democratization in South Korea alongside the revisions, or lack of thereof, of the constitution, there seems to be a missing gap. The constitution of South Korea has not caught up with the governmental changes of its country.
South Korea hasn’t always been the up-beat, energetic, fashionable, and colorful country it is today. In fact, the majority of its modern existence, after the Korean War in the 50’s, has been plagued with a military dictatorship. The beginning of the authoritarian regimes is recognized to have officially begun with General Park Chung-hee, when a military coup in 1961 put him into power. But even before then, in the ten years between 1950 and 1960, South Korea under president Syngman Ree was politically limited. It wasn’t until the 1972 (1) when significant steps toward democratization began occurring in where the indirect election of the president was allowed and added to the constitution, then in 1986 (2) when even military dictatorship allowed for direct election of the president. What is considered the final step towards the complete and successful democratization occurred until 1993 (3) when Kim Young Sam became the first freely elected president, and there was a peaceful transfer of power.
The country’s journey to a democracy has clearly been a difficult one. It was almost completely caused by internal pressure. Yet, with all of the progress that has been accomplished, there is still a very important aspect of the republic that has not been modernized nor adjusted to support this new structure and culture. This would be the Constitution. The Constitution was first written in 1948, and revised several times after. The most recent revision was in 1987. This is where the issue arises. In 1987, the country was still a dictatorship with many political limitations and a lack of basic democratic pillars. The only part of the constitution that had changed at that time was that a leader was able to be directly elected. It is important to note; the leader still ran the country as a dictatorship as all other aspects of the country was authoritarian. The question Korean citizens are asking now is, “How can a constitution written in a conservative time under a dictatorship be suitable to mandate a now democratic government?” This concern is completely understandable, especially considering the disparity between the government and the population. One still being considered too conservative and the latter continuously liberalizing and globalizing. This issue came to light in 2017 when South Korea brightly celebrated “Constitution Day”, on July 17th soon after the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, which occurred through a peaceful protest and was hailed by the international community for being an example of a functioning democratic process. (4) Yet, what this forceful yet non-violent transfer of power revealed was the lack of decentralization of powers and transparency due to low accountability the position of president has under the current Constitution. (5) The population may feel as if the current laws only affect in how much the people’s voice is heard in domestic issues, but these conditions also greatly impact other aspects of government procedure, as said by Jung Pak and Paul Pak in their Brookings policy brief, “South Korea’s system of an empowered presidency with little to no accountability has implications for the country’s foreign policy.” (6) In consequence, in that same year of 2017, current president Moon Jae-in promised to begin to make revisions to the powers of the presidency as addressed in the constitution.
In the 1987 revision of the Constitution, the president has a single five-year term, with no chance of reelection. (7) And the national assembly members have a four-year term. (8) According to Noh Dong-Il, a Professor of Law at Kyung Hee University in South Korea, “Now people think that the system grants excessive authority to the president.” (9) Although it was originally meant to allow for Presidents to run again in the future if there was a failure during his/her regime. This problem was so prominent that all seven presidential candidates in the election of this year recognized it and all promised to revise it under their rule. President Moon Jae-in, still insisted this would be something he prioritizes. The suggestions for the alterations include a four year, two-term presidency—such as it is in the U.S.—would be ideal, in addition to a semi-presidential system, and a parliamentary government. (10) People believe it would solve the immediate problem by reducing the president’s power, and allows for a faster modernization of bills due to a more effective legislative body.
The decentralization aspect of the issue is a separate one, but equally as important. With regional governments having to receive authority and approval for everything by the federal government, the legislation and programs regional governments want to offer happen incredibly slowly and are not “customizable” to suit the people of that region. This concern has also not gone unnoticed. President Moon Jae-in addressed that, “When revising the constitution next year, I’m planning to add in articles to strengthen the regional government's’ power and enable cabinet meeting with all regional leaders.” (11) The issue is not just about creating a way for the people’s voice to be heard, it goes further than that. It also impacts efficient governing.
Due to the very direct response of the current government and of the President himself, there is a lot of hope that these changes will be done. A seventh revision of this sixty-nine-year-old Constitution is necessary to continue the progression of a more decentralized, liberalized government, which is what the people want. (12) The rapidly changing population needs the constitution to play “catch up” with their needs. To do so, it should support representation, which the decentralization of government and a transition to an alternate governmental structure will do.
In 2018, the people of Korea may have been witnessing a President actually begin to do what he promised. On March 26th, he proposed a couple of changes to the constitution that most importantly includes reducing the powers of his own office. He expressed that he wished to dismantle the imperial presidency that South Korea now has, "I gain nothing from the constitutional change, which gives some of the presidential power to the people, the regional governments and the parliament." (13) Unfortunately, on May 24th of 2018 when it was finally time for this constitutional reform to shine, it was rejected not receiving the needed two-thirds of the vote by members of parliament to be passed. (14) While it is a shame, it is respectable as it is proof that government works as it should. These kinds of things happen in democracies where there is some level of power distribution. It is now 2019 and we have not seen any proposal passed in regards to the presidential powers. But, the mere fact that a proposed reform made it to the parliamentary stage should be something to be proud of. And because of this, I have hope that the topic will be revisited and eventually there will be a much-needed reform.
Bibliography
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[1] “Korea's Constitution Day; history
of constitution and ongoing discussions on possible amendment,” YouTube video,
2:00, posted by “Arirang News,” July 17, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZWyMrK8Rp4
[2] “South Korea – Timeline,” BCC, May
1, 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-15292674
[4] Jung Park and Paul Park, “Liberal
Democracy in South Korea,” Foreign Policy
at Brookings, (2019) https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/FP_20190226_south_korea_pak_park.pdf
[5] Seonhwa Kim, “Reforming South
Korea’s ‘Imperial Presidency’,” Institute for Security and Development Policy,
October 2017, http://isdp.eu/publication/reforming-south-koreas-imperial-presidency/
[6] Jung Park and Paul Park, “Liberal
Democracy in South Korea,”
[7] Constitution of the Republic of
South Korea (1948)
[8] Constitution of the Republic of
South Korea (1948)
[9] “Korea's Constitution Day; history
of constitution and ongoing discussions on possible amendment,”
[11] “Korea's Constitution Day; history
of constitution and ongoing discussions on possible amendment,”
[12] Yonhap News Agency, “More than 7
in 10 S. Koreans favor constitutional revision: poll,” July 16, 2017, https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20170716002500315
[13] The Straits Times, “South Korea's
Moon Jae In proposes weakening president's powers”, March 26, 2018, https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/south-koreas-moon-jae-in-proposes-weakening-presidents-powers
[14] He-rim Jo, “Opposition scuttles
Moon’s Constitution amendment plan,” Korea Herald, May 24, 2018, http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180524000842
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