Time to reinvent our Constitution

Yeom Jae-ho
The author, a former president of Korea University, is the president of Taejae University.

July 17 is Korea’s Constitution Day. The Constitution begins with the sentence “The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic.” This clause defining the national identity and motto of Korea has not changed after nine amendments. Article 1 of the Provisional Charter of the Republic of Korea — enacted by the provisional government in Shanghai in 1919 — also stipulates, “The Republic of Korea shall be a democratic republic.”

Are we faithfully keeping the system of a democratic republic, the national motto? Democracy is based on basic rights that emphasize individual freedom and human rights. The democratic system is certainly based on a representative system in which the people who secured a majority through an election governs the country for a certain period of time on behalf of voters. After the democratic system was established in 1987 after the military dictatorship, we developed a democratic system with enhanced individual rights.

But the republican system has been regressing in Korea. The system is the core of a political philosophy which mandates people to live together. The Roman Republic was not a monarchy ruled by a dictatorship, but by a political system in which consuls, the Senate and comitia — public assemblies of Roman citizens — struck a balance to cooperate and lead the nation. The legacy of the Roman Republic has since become the basic framework for establishing a democratic system separating the legislative, executive and judicial powers during the French Revolution and the American Revolution.

The 22nd National Assembly was the first in the history of Korea’s modern democracy to be unilaterally opened by the opposition. Leaders of the new legislature were also elected 28 days after the opening. The governing and opposition parties are endlessly fighting over the operation of standing committees, special investigation bills and the Broadcasting Act, all marked by curses and insults. It is hard to find the concept of a “republic,” the motto of the nation, in the Assembly.

The 250-year-old American democracy is also experiencing a crisis. The democratic traditions and norms of the United States — which established a presidential system with the separation of the three powers and spread it around the world — have been seriously collapsing since the appearance of former President Donald Trump. Harvard University’s political science professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt wrote in “How Democracies Die” that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party shake the traditional democratic order with hostile and unrefined words and actions rather than concession and compromise. In their recent book, “Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point,” they pointed out how democracy is undermined by extreme supporters wearing the mask of law and democracy. They monopolize power and freely exercise populist politics to distort democracy by only going through a nominal democratic process.

Levitsky and Ziblatt emphasize that the two normative values of mutual tolerance and forbearance are essential to maintain democracy. These two values are what Korean politics is missing today.

Rep. Woo Won-shik, the new National Assembly speaker, argues that the discussion on a Constitutional amendment for a four-year, two-term presidency should be rushed. However, will extreme confrontation and conflict in politics disappear if the presidential term changes? If politicians do not understand the basic philosophy of republicanism and have no philosophy in state affairs for the future development of the country, politics cannot be advanced just by a Constitutional amendment.

Rather, discussions require more fundamental considerations beyond the 1987 direct presidential election system. If so, how about eliminating the party nomination system altogether, allowing everyone to run in parliamentary elections only with a political party affiliation and mandating those failing to win a majority to go to run-off elections? What if we change the system to a mid- or large-sized constituency system to elect representatives who can represent more diverse interests?

Just as the United States invented the presidential system 250 years ago, we need to create a new political system for the future. I want to see a National Assembly that learns and practices the politics of cooperation through a republican system beyond democratization. Politics is not a war fought with the right answer in mind, but an art of compromising, yielding and finding answers. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the system through a Constitutional amendment, and establish a system that can effectively check the capabilities, qualities and personalities of political leaders.

What we must develop after the 1987 democratization is the establishment of a truly republican system. If politics does not solve social problems through mutual tolerance and moderation, we have no future. It is regrettable that Korea is repeating the painful history of factional politics from the Joseon Dynasty. I hope that Korea’s political reform will be achieved through a proper Constitutional amendment and a system for training political leaders fit for the 21st century.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.