Koreans still undecided on revising Constitution

By Lee Tae-hoon

A recent Korea Times poll found that nearly four out of 10 people want constitutional revision.

In the poll of 1,000 people conducted by Millward Brown Media Research last week, a total of 39.1 percent responded that they favored a revision of the Constitution while 22.9 percent replied that they are against it.

At the same time, some 38.0 percent of respondents said they were unsure or declined to comment, a clear indication that a considerable number of the public are no longer interested in the over-heated issue and have begun to cast doubts on the motives behind politicians’ pushing it.

Critics say such a growing indifference on the issue is linked to politicians’ failure to show sincere efforts to honor their promise to hold a national referendum by 2012 for constitutional change.

The ruling and opposition parties made the agreement during the preceding Roh Moo-hyun administration in January 2007.

Since then, Presidents Roh and Lee, as well as numerous political heavyweights have called for constitutional amendment, but their rhetoric has been widely perceived as empty-worded.

Of people having a positive view of President Lee Myung-bak, who urged the National Assembly to deliberate on the issue in a speech on the Aug. 15 National Liberation Day this year, only 16.9 percent said they object to constitutional change.

Among those who have a negative image of Lee, 32.8 percent are against the need.

By region, people living in Gangwon Province, Jeju Island and Seoul were much less resistant to change. Only 11.4 percent in Gangwon Province and Jeju Island were against amendments ― while 18.2 percent in Seoul were opposed to it compared to nearly twice more, or 39.1 percent, who back a revision.

Among President Lee’s supporters, 43.5 percent shared his view on the need for change.

However, among those who are discontent with his performance, only 36.3 percent supported the revision.

By region, people in the capital city favored constitutional change the most at 45.5 percent.

Korea introduced the current single-term presidency through the last constitutional amendment in 1987 in line with the public’s desire to prevent dictatorships.

However, since then, Korea has changed significantly. Not only, the number of biracial families and foreign workers has grown,

democracy has taken root, election fraud has decreased and the rule of law has been set in place in principle.

Of those who want constitutional change, 49.4 percent said they would like to see it done during the Lee Myung-bak administration.

Single-term vs. two-term presidency

Pro and con arguments over the current single-term presidency have recently surfaced.

Proponents of the current presidential system said this is more suitable for the country than a two-term presidency as it can prevent the establishment of dictatorships.

Under the system, incumbents are not allowed to extend their tenure.

Opponents, however, note that a two-term presidency is more effective because a president can maintain policy consistency if they are re-elected.

Under the single-term system, the government can change from liberal to conservative or vice versa frequently and this makes it difficult for the country to policy consistency, they say.

Last year, a survey of lawmakers showed that two-thirds of incumbents backed rewriting the Constitution.

In the National Assembly, lawmakers shared the view that the president has too much power and that therefore this makes it difficult to institute checks and balances on the presidential office. Under the current system, they argue it is difficult for them to prevent abuse of power.

Legislators claimed that parliament should be given more power and clout by revising the current system of government into a parliamentary one.

The campaign to empower the legislature, however, has been met with skepticism.

Some constitution scholars note that the Assembly is influential enough under the current system.

In a seminar held at the Assembly, Prof. Cary. R. Covington of the University of Iowa expressed a skeptical view over the role of constitutional restrictions in preventing presidential aggrandizement.

Covington stressed the need for norms and incentives, saying those with the power to control the president must have sufficient incentive to do so.

He also called for “thorough and independently-generated information about the presidency’s actions” as an alternative to controlling presidential excess.

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Drive to rewrite Constitution

The drive to revise the Constitution appeared to gain momentum after Rep. Kim Hyong-o, an advocate of revision, was elected as National Assembly speaker. But it was short-lived.

In a speech during his inauguration as speaker, Kim pledged to draw a consensus on rewriting the Constitution and complete the necessary process during his two-year term.

President Lee Myung-bak agreed with the need for a constitutional change, but came up short of giving full support to Kim’s initiative, saying revising the Basic Law was the job to be done by lawmakers.

Despite the consensus shared by the latter and Cheong Wa Dae, Kim failed to gain a wave of support for his campaign, and left office without making progress.

The campaign then lost momentum, but recently, lawmakers have tackled the issue once more.