Don’t waste the remaining three years

president yoon must borrow from veteran statesmen.

Cho Yoon-jeThe author is a professor emeritus at Sogang University. The president is the most important power in a state, but in reality, there’s not much he or she can do to their desire, especially when the ruling power forms a minority in the legislature. Korea’s government polices mostly need a legislative approval. In the past when the National Assembly stood subordinate to the executive branch, the mechanism served well for the government. Government officials even preferred the legislative process over presidential decrees, as the former was easier to secure the budget than the latter. Lawmaking was smooth as the governing party just followed orders from the presidential office.

But things changed after the 1987 Constitutional amendment, which put an end to the authoritarian regime. Democratization entirely changed the environment for policymaking for the government. As the freedoms of the press, labor unions and civilian groups expanded, so did the power of the legislature. Roh Tae-woo — the first president elected after the Constitutional amendment — formed a coalition government with his political rivals Kim Young-sam and Kim Jong-pil to overcome the hamstrings from the opposition-led legislature.

Whether intended or not, the military general-turned-president took up the democratic procedure of bipartisanship to push through policy changes and navigate the country through a watershed transition period. But the legacy of a president collecting a slush fund from big companies remained intact despite the landmark change in the political environment. The governance tool handed down from the military era under Park Chung Hee enabled the president — as head of the governing party — to wield a mighty influence over party appointments and nominations for elections and control the military, opposition parties, anti-government civic groups, the media and even bureaucrats by buying their loyalty with money.

That tradition crumbled through the momentum of the international bailout following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Under the stringent watch by the International Monetary Fund, Korea had to liberalize financial markets and enhance transparency in corporate bookkeeping. Large companies’ reliance on loans to do business also fell sharply in the wake of the rigorous corporate and financial restructuring. Since a company came to rely more on market valuation than government-backed loans, the foundation for the collusion between politicians and corporate leaders fell apart. The presidential office could no longer easily collect political funds as the money flow became traceable from the mandate on real-name financial transactions enforced by President Kim Young-sam.

Liberal President Roh Moo-hyun went on to declare that government powers would no longer serve political purposes, giving up the president’s prerogative to exploit law enforcement authorities for his political gains. The legislature gained its true constitutional power while the prosecution built its own power. The press often jumped into the playing field from their sportscasting seats to cause upsets to government policies. Even after the governing party became a majority in the legislature, the government-party cooperation was not easy. The president had to seat party bigwigs as cabinet ministers to draw cooperation from the legislature, just like in the parliamentary system.

In 1987, Korea finally achieved democratization. But that came without deep thoughts on how government policies can be pursued for the benefit of national progress under the democratic system. Korea hastily moved onto the democratic stage without learning and accumulating the skills of democracy — rational debate, respect for other opinions and compromise, for example. We must stop and deliberate on what reforms and innovations are needed to sustain national advancement under the changed political environment.

Western institutions and ways were blindly mimicked when founding the nation seven decades ago. The clash with the unfamiliar system bred dictatorship and irregularities. The method, albeit opaque, somehow worked during the industrialization period. But the time has come to institutionalize a transparent and yet effective system to stimulate the stalemated national development.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s remaining three years under the opposition-led legislature can be critical for the country’s future. But given the deadlocked politics, we can hardly expect bipartisanship. Still, the government must try to seek compromise and cooperation on specific issues and policies. To do so, it must abandon its ideological color in policies and broaden its dialogue channel with the people for policymaking. Above all, the government must rebuild the power structure, government organization, appointments and incentive systems through open discussions. The next three years could set a solid foundation for the country if these efforts are made. President Yoon must borrow wisdom from veteran statesmen — former presidents, house speakers and prime ministers — to overhaul the country’s governing system.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.