Both parties must unite during a national crisis
Published: 15 Dec. 2024, 19:58
Updated: 15 Dec. 2024, 21:42
The tragedy of a presidential impeachment unfolded again in Korea in just eight years. The National Assembly on Saturday voted for a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol for his abrupt declaration of martial law on Dec. 3. The legislature’s decision reflects a political judgment on the president’s unlawful decision to send the military to the Assembly to drag out lawmakers inside the building. The governing People Power Party (PPP) had the trauma of the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2016, but this time the party couldn’t dissuade several of its members from voting for Yoon’s impeachment during the second vote on Dec. 14 due to the clear evidence of his rebellion against the state.
President Yoon himself invited the impeachment with his unilateral push for government policies without dialogue and compromise with the opposition. Since the adoption of the five-year, single-term presidency through the Constitutional amendment in 1987, no president has had a successful presidency: Three were arrested after stepping down and one committed suicide. The 1987 Constitution was certainly a symbol of Korea’s hard-earned democratization, but eight presidents since then have faced an unhappy ending. That shows a strong need to correct the structural flaws of the revised Constitution.
Why can’t the country have a successful president? Political experts point to the problems with our imperial presidency. President Yoon led his rival Lee Jae-myung — current leader of the Democratic Party (DP) — by 0.73 percentage points in the 2022 election, but took all the powers. In the process, the 16.14 million votes Lee took just vanished. The system forced the opposition to get engrossed in taking power from day one of its election defeat. The same pattern appeared in the last parliamentary elections. The gap between the DP and the PPP was only 5.4 percent. But the DP grabbed 161 seats in district elections while the PPP took only 90 seats. Thanks to the single-member constituency system, the DP could effectively neutralize the National Assembly Advancement Act and pass whatever bills it wanted to.
The winner-take-all electoral system only fuels national division and polarizes politics. As the president degenerates into a leader of a political faction under the system, he or she often collapses in the face of relentless attacks from the opposition.
Needless to say, President Yoon and those related to the out-of-the blue martial law should be held accountable for their legal and political responsibilities. But an obsession with punishing the president and their co-conspirators will only help political parties be immersed in taking power back through elections. We hope our politicians to find a grand plan to overcome the intrinsic limits of the 1987 election system. Though it requires many debates on details, it will be better to give more power to the legislature for successful national governance. We hope each political party presents ways for Constitutional revision if an early presidential election schedule is fixed, and reach a national consensus on the pivotal issue as soon as possible.
Before doing that, resolving all the chaos from Yoon’s impeachment is urgent. The Constitutional Court must deliberate on the constitutionality of the impeachment motion passed by the legislature and swiftly hand out its fair and object ruling. Considering Yoon’s vow to “never give up [my presidency]” in a speech shortly after the passage of the second impeachment motion last week, justices in the top court must make a judgment everyone can agree to. Otherwise, political chaos will persist. Given the three vacant seats in the nine-member bench, the legislature must expedite the required appointment procedure.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, now an acting president, must settle the unstable atmosphere in the government and do his best to protect our national security. As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will take office on Jan. 20, the prime minister must thoroughly prepare for any possible diplomatic and security challenges ahead. Concerns are also deepening over our shrinking domestic demand. The prime minister must stably manage economic risks by calming excessive public anxiety about an economic crisis. We also urge the prime minister to veto controversial bills aimed at compelling the government to buy surplus rice from farmers or restricting corporate activities by mandating their obligatory submission of sensitive data to the authorities regardless of the protection of privacy. The prime minister can consider establishing a coalition government by launching a policy consultative body with the DP.
The PPP is still in chaos after the passage of the second impeachment motion in the legislature. PPP leader Han Dong-hoon and lawmakers close to President Yoon must both reflect on effective ways to rebuild Korean conservatism for a better future of the country. If the chronic factional conflict spreads, the party can be dismantled as in the past.
The DP also must share a bigger responsibility for national governance. The majority party cannot avoid criticism for repeatedly impeaching government ministers and prosecutors to help safeguard its boss with a plethora of judicial risks. The DP must cooperate with the government to address this ongoing crisis. If it is bent on attacking the government led by the acting president, it will backfire. Due to the president’s fall from grace, the future of the country’s export of nuclear reactors to the Czech Republic has become uncertain. The DP must help the government wrap up the export of the reactors.
President Yoon himself invited the impeachment with his unilateral push for government policies without dialogue and compromise with the opposition. Since the adoption of the five-year, single-term presidency through the Constitutional amendment in 1987, no president has had a successful presidency: Three were arrested after stepping down and one committed suicide. The 1987 Constitution was certainly a symbol of Korea’s hard-earned democratization, but eight presidents since then have faced an unhappy ending. That shows a strong need to correct the structural flaws of the revised Constitution.
Why can’t the country have a successful president? Political experts point to the problems with our imperial presidency. President Yoon led his rival Lee Jae-myung — current leader of the Democratic Party (DP) — by 0.73 percentage points in the 2022 election, but took all the powers. In the process, the 16.14 million votes Lee took just vanished. The system forced the opposition to get engrossed in taking power from day one of its election defeat. The same pattern appeared in the last parliamentary elections. The gap between the DP and the PPP was only 5.4 percent. But the DP grabbed 161 seats in district elections while the PPP took only 90 seats. Thanks to the single-member constituency system, the DP could effectively neutralize the National Assembly Advancement Act and pass whatever bills it wanted to.
The winner-take-all electoral system only fuels national division and polarizes politics. As the president degenerates into a leader of a political faction under the system, he or she often collapses in the face of relentless attacks from the opposition.
Needless to say, President Yoon and those related to the out-of-the blue martial law should be held accountable for their legal and political responsibilities. But an obsession with punishing the president and their co-conspirators will only help political parties be immersed in taking power back through elections. We hope our politicians to find a grand plan to overcome the intrinsic limits of the 1987 election system. Though it requires many debates on details, it will be better to give more power to the legislature for successful national governance. We hope each political party presents ways for Constitutional revision if an early presidential election schedule is fixed, and reach a national consensus on the pivotal issue as soon as possible.
Before doing that, resolving all the chaos from Yoon’s impeachment is urgent. The Constitutional Court must deliberate on the constitutionality of the impeachment motion passed by the legislature and swiftly hand out its fair and object ruling. Considering Yoon’s vow to “never give up [my presidency]” in a speech shortly after the passage of the second impeachment motion last week, justices in the top court must make a judgment everyone can agree to. Otherwise, political chaos will persist. Given the three vacant seats in the nine-member bench, the legislature must expedite the required appointment procedure.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, now an acting president, must settle the unstable atmosphere in the government and do his best to protect our national security. As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will take office on Jan. 20, the prime minister must thoroughly prepare for any possible diplomatic and security challenges ahead. Concerns are also deepening over our shrinking domestic demand. The prime minister must stably manage economic risks by calming excessive public anxiety about an economic crisis. We also urge the prime minister to veto controversial bills aimed at compelling the government to buy surplus rice from farmers or restricting corporate activities by mandating their obligatory submission of sensitive data to the authorities regardless of the protection of privacy. The prime minister can consider establishing a coalition government by launching a policy consultative body with the DP.
The PPP is still in chaos after the passage of the second impeachment motion in the legislature. PPP leader Han Dong-hoon and lawmakers close to President Yoon must both reflect on effective ways to rebuild Korean conservatism for a better future of the country. If the chronic factional conflict spreads, the party can be dismantled as in the past.
The DP also must share a bigger responsibility for national governance. The majority party cannot avoid criticism for repeatedly impeaching government ministers and prosecutors to help safeguard its boss with a plethora of judicial risks. The DP must cooperate with the government to address this ongoing crisis. If it is bent on attacking the government led by the acting president, it will backfire. Due to the president’s fall from grace, the future of the country’s export of nuclear reactors to the Czech Republic has become uncertain. The DP must help the government wrap up the export of the reactors.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)