How to end the imperial presidency?

The Korean president commands czar-like authority, but times have changed.

Lee Ha-kyungThe author is a senior columnist of the JoongAng Ilbo. Korean first lady Kim Keon Hee’s acceptance of a luxury handbag has made international news. The Wall Street Journal last week reported that Kim receiving a $2,200 Christian Dior bag has shaken the governing People Power Party (PPP) ahead of the April 10 parliamentary elections. The incident that worsened the election prospects for the ruling party also drew attention from the British media, such as the BBC, The Times and The Telegraph. After PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon expressed concerns on people’s behalf, a discord erupted between the PPP and the presidential office. Yoon without exception is facing the curse of Korean presidency owing to family members or acquaintances riding on imperial power.

After liberation from Japanese colonial rule, Korea came to choose the presidential system over the parliamentary system due to the insistence of the first parliamentary chair Syngman Rhee, who later became the founding president. The first National Assembly, which was formed on May 31, 1948, held 16 meetings to write the Constitution and by June 21 finished its draft of the Constitution based on the parliamentary system. The procedure was fast thanks to the leadership of Dr. Yoo Jin-oh, the top expert on the Constitution at the time. But Rhee demanded a last-minute change from the parliamentary system to the presidential system, citing the “need for stability in governance.” Kim Jun-yeon, who studied law in Japan, literally penciled the changes in the articles and provisions, despite concerns from Yoo about a “deformative government system.” The draft was put forward to the National Assembly the following day and promulgated on July 12.

Dr. Yoo benchmarked Germany’s post-World War I Weimar Constitution for providing popularly-elected presidency in proposing Korea’s first Constitution. The constitution influenced by the social contract theory of Rousseau envisioned democracy of popular sovereignty upholding the values of freedom, equality and social welfare. Yoo’s draft also proposed to guarantee economic and social democracy. But Korea’s journey toward democracy took a skewed liftoff due to the last-minute turn to the presidential system. Korea’s presidential system accumulated exponential power through nine constitutional amendments to reach an untouchable holistic level. Power vested in a single president allowed fast policy decision-making and execution to drive speedy growth. But the system at the same time bred dangerous copycats abusing power against the diverse public values regardless of the president’s will.

On the other hand, Japan’s constitutional writing was based on a lengthy brewing process unlike Korea’s. It was motivated by a civilian demand for an independent Constitution. Ito Hirobumi, wielding mighty power in the Meiji regime, researched various forms of Western constitutional governments from 1871. He rejected the first draft put forward by the Council of State in December 1880, finding it a “mixture of copied versions of Western societies with little respect to Japanese identity and people.” After killing the initial draft, Ito personally headed to Europe to study the constitution based on monarchy. He listened to the lectures of German legal scholar Issac Mosse and studied constitution restraints on monarchy under Austrian scholar Lorez von Stein who was teaching at the University of Vienna. The theories were constitutional reforms in Europe after civilian revolutions against monarchs in the early 19th century. In London, Ito was able to see the practices of constitutional monarchy sharing power with the representative parliament. He returned home in August 1883 after 17 months of overseas study on European constitutional government forms.

Ito, who became the prime minister at the age of 45 in 1885, confronted the 11 year-old emperor who rejected cabinet proposals due to displeasure of being treated as a figure head. Ito sent the emperor’s closest aide to Prof. Stein in Vienna. The servant as young as the emperor, who knew little of the constitution or German, was forced to study under Stein for 27 months. Upon return, he relayed what he had learned about the roles of the monarchs under constitutional monarchy to the emperor and empress for 33 hours. It had been Ito’s plan to institutionalize the constitutional monarchy.

After retiring from the premiership in 1888, Ito immersed himself in constitutional writing as a permanent imperial adviser or the president of the Emperor’s Privy Council. He debated with Inoue Kowashi, authorized to draft the Meiji Constitution, day and night. Younger bureaucrats were free to express their opinions under Ito’s command. It is how the Meiji Constitution came to light on Feb. 11, 1889.

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks before presiding over a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, Jan. 16.

The making of constitutions in Korea and Japan was entirely different. As a result of rigorous study and preparation, Japan restrained the powers of the monarch whereas Korea gave imperial power to an elected president who in theory had to serve the people. Japan continued to refine and update the constitutional monarchy. Ito was hated by Koreans for colonizing their country and was assassinated by independence fighter An Jung-geun. But he remains revered by the Japanese even while Koreans are suffering from their imperial presidential system.

The change of the president every five years affects the government, corporations and common people. Major business group heads must put aside their business priorities upon the summoning by the president. The Korean president commands czar-like authority. But times have changed, and the country has joined the ranks of the developed. How long do we have to endure such an outmoded government system?