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Repent and reinvent the presidential system

Published: 11 Dec. 2024, 19:04

Oh Yeon-chun
The author is president of Ulsan University.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s abrupt declaration of special martial law last Tuesday shocked the entire nation. The declaration of martial law for the first time in 45 years was blocked by the National Assembly in just two and half hours. But the country must find effective ways to deal with the repercussions of the six-hour tragicomedy.

The political parties are ambiguous and evasive after lifting the martial law. As a result, they cannot assuage the deepening public anger and frustration at the unfathomable declaration. The governing People Power Party (PPP) blocked the impeachment motion against the president by refusing to vote.

Some politicians claim that the martial law declaration was a warning against the majority Democratic Party (DP)’s relentless opposition to whatever the government wants to do. But such a claim only camouflages the unconstitutionality of the martial law. Needless to say, the majority party’s uninterrupted impeachments of high-ranking public officials and drastic budget cuts cannot be directly related to national security.

In his speech last Saturday, the president promised to resolve the current crisis through cooperation between the PPP and government. But his televised address to the nation lacked the determination to resolve the panic. The president’s plan to delegate his power to the prime minister and the PPP leader is not compatible with our Constitution, either.

The first step in resolving this crisis is to quickly restore a sustainable governance system. To this end, political parties must overcome their partisan interests and revitalize the governance system with extraordinary resolution. There should be no boundaries between the ruling and opposition parties here — and it has nothing to do with which party benefits more in the next presidential election.

If political parties are engrossed in reflecting their own political goals in the process of addressing this crisis, they cannot reach a conclusion. Adherence to partisan interests will only lengthen the time needed to end this chaos and deepen confusion.

Political parties must not prioritize their political gains and losses in the process of resolving this crisis. Presidential aspirants must first devote themselves to reflecting universal values — such as the sovereignty of the people — in the new governance system and restrain from rushing to embody their political goals.

The president must sincerely apologize to the people for his preposterous declaration of martial law. The first step is to voluntarily step down as president, regardless of the impeachment process. If Yoon justifies his decision to declare martial law and tries to extend his term with help from the PPP — or if the ruling and opposition parties continue to battle over impeachment votes in the legislature — resolving the crisis will be more difficult. This will worsen the massive damage to Korea’s national power and bring about the collapse of the national system and the decline in the country’s international credibility.

The president’s final duty to the people is to quickly end the national chaos by demonstrating the spirit of public service he learned as a law student at college and a prosecutor later.

The PPP and government must not orchestrate the resolution of this crisis. Instead, they must cooperate with opposition parties to better represent the people and reach an agreement with the opposition. The PPP must demonstrate the humility of voluntarily abandoning its premium as the governing party in the process of resolving this crisis. They must draw up an agreeable road map for a peaceful transfer of power.

Political circles must take this crisis as an opportunity to gather public opinion for the establishment of a new constitutional order and work on implementing agendas based on this. The negative effects of the authoritarian presidential system have been raised for decades. There were occasional attempts to revise the Constitution, but all of them failed.

If the current five-year, single-term presidency stipulated in the 1987 Constitutional amendment does not fit the reality of Korea today, it is time to discuss a Constitutional revision. I hope the legislature and civil society select Constitutional revision as a major agenda in the process of electing a new head of the executive branch.
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.