President and security

By Yim Sung-joon

The next presidential election is just one year away. A few months prior to that, a general election will be held in April to elect 299 National Assembly members. However, it seems that the public attention is focused more on the presidential rather than the general election.

The media is aggressively conducting opinion polls on potential presidential candidates and fueling rumors of the creation of a new political party. Such presidential election fever is, in part, a reflection of the victory won by a human-rights lawyer and independent candidate, Park Won-soon, in the recent mayoral election in Seoul.

From this unexpected outcome, the public appears to now be precisely calculating who could be the most suitable candidate to address national affairs for the next five years after the Lee Myung-bak administration.

According to recent poll results and publications, voters in their 20s to 40s, who emerged as the new power in the recent mayoral election, are looking for alternative leadership figures, namely, ones that can bring changes in the current political landscape, rather than giving support to the existing political party members.

On the other hand, people in their 50s and 60s, who directly benefited from the nations’ economic growth during the 1970s and ‘80s, are more focused on candidates’ ability to revitalize the country’s flagging economy.

Finally, the public of all age groups, witnessing the recent political controversies over the free school lunch program, are now showing a growing interest in welfare policies along with the alarming rise in the youth unemployment rate.

As can be presumed from above, people tend to place unrealistic expectations on the president only to later be disappointed at the end of the term. The Lee administration is no exception. In the face of a turbulent economic crisis, the public initially gave overwhelming support to Lee, a former mayor of Seoul and construction industry executive, who was considered the savior of the economy and national security at that time.

However, with barely a year left in office, his administration has not yet made any significant achievement in either area. In short, there remain many unresolved global financial problems, and considering the economy’s high dependency on foreign trade, it seems difficult to completely protect the economy from such problems. Nor has the government made any significant progress in inter-Korean relations.

The administration’s policies toward North Korea have been troubling from the start. During the transition, Lee indicated that he would abolish the Ministry of Unification, which mainly handles inter-Korean issues, but then later receded to keep the ministry due to fierce nationwide opposition.

Furthermore, the conditionality of the ``Vision 3000” policy he offered to North Korea in return for economic aid were deemed unacceptable by the North. If this stalemate were to continue, the administration will be remembered as the first one never to have held a high level meeting with North Korea.

However, I believe that it is not too late to seek an inter-Korean summit meeting, which could dramatically improve the overall situation on the Korean Peninsula. Albeit late, it would be much better to at least have some form of dialogue with North Korea, rather than to irresponsibly leave strained relations for the next administration to handle.

Upon reflection of the current situation, I often have wondered ``what is the role of the president?” and ``what is the duty of the president according to the Constitution of the Republic of Korea?”

Article 66 (i) and (ii) of the Constitution sheds some light to these questions. It provides: ``(i) The President shall have the responsibility and duty to safeguard the independence, territorial integrity and continuity of the State and the Constitution and (ii) The President shall have the duty to sincerely pursue unification of the homeland.”

Article 69 further states: ``The President, at the time of inauguration, shall take the following oath: ‘I do solemnly swear before the people that I will faithfully execute the duties of the President by observing the Constitution, defending the State, pursuing peaceful unification of the homeland, promoting the freedom and welfare of the people …’”

As clearly stated in the Constitution, the most fundamental responsibilities given to the president of the Republic of Korea are to make a genuine commitment to national security and peaceful unification of the peninsula.

In consideration of these responsibilities, seeking an optimum balance between national security and unification efforts is a crucial task for the president, and the vision and leadership of the president are believed to play an essential role in finding such balance.

I believe that our basic policies toward North Korea should be formed based on a high level of defense posture and combat preparedness in case of provocation and nuclear threats from the North, and on our willingness, nevertheless, to continue meaningful dialogue with North Korea.

Although we still have a year left until the election, major political parties have already been working to select presidential candidates. Also, the media has separately spotlighted several strong potential candidates. In this way, the public will have the chance to carefully consider who would be the best candidate to navigate the nation as safely as possible during these uncertain and difficult times.

It is my sincere hope that all of us will consider the tenets of Articles 66 and 69 of the Constitution when electing our next president.

The author is a distinguished professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. A career diplomat, Yim is also a senior advisor for Lee International IP & Law Group. He can be reached at yimsungjoon@gmail.com.