Is Korean democracy better than America's?

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." (From "On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe" by H.L. Mencken)

By Deauwand Myers

As the first woman president and head of state in East Asia, former President Park Geun-hye enjoyed a wellspring of goodwill and kudos for her ascension to Korea's highest elected office, both at home and abroad.

Though a conservative, Park inspired whispered hopes and prayers among some of a feminist revolution in Korea, a largely patriarchal country.

But absolute power corrupts absolutely, and Korea's democratic constitution aggregates great power to the executive.

I've always found this odd. If one studies the history of Korea after 1953, it reads like a Greek tragedy, full of proscriptions, mass murder, torture, false imprisonments, embezzlement from state coffers by the political elite, violent and systematic repression of the press and political speech, and assassinations.

Rolled over by Japanese imperialism and the Korean War, the Korean citizenry endured decades of brutal president/dictators, all of whom, to varying degrees, were venal, cruel, murderous and unconcerned with the civic life of the population.

Surprisingly, the revised Korean Constitution, giving presidents a single five-year term (to avoid presidents perpetually staying in office), still grants the executive branch enormous power.

Even with this, impeaching President Park for her alleged illegal activities ― obstruction of justice, graft, curtailing free speech, and breaching national security ― was an orderly affair.

The checks and balances set into Korean democracy endured a stress test and passed it with flying colors. Park was tried, convicted, and removed from office in a matter of months, with largely peaceful mass protests preceding her ultimate incarceration.

Korea has always been a kind of prodigy. The "Miracle on the Han" became an economic powerhouse in 30 years after a devastating war that bifurcated the country and left millions dead, an impoverished population, crumbling and antiquated infrastructure, and no modern industrial base by which to rebuild itself.

After successive authoritarian administrations, Korea ushered in democratic reforms and has had free and fair elections ever since. Korea did all this in the span of two generations.

How is it that such a young democracy is able to oust a corrupt executive and conduct a peaceful transfer of power?

Meanwhile, the United States, the richest, most powerful nation in human history, and the oldest representative democracy since the Enlightenment, can't seem to even investigate President Donald Trump? Even worse, America seems even less capable of impeaching Trump and removing him from public office.

Russian collusion with Trump's election campaign, Russia's interference in America's 2016 presidential election, and obstruction of justice aside (the latter of which Trump is fairly obvious of being guilty of by most legal scholars), there's an entire section in America's vaunted Constitution specific to Trump and impeachable offenses.

It is referred to as the Emoluments Clause, or the Foreign Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 8). Simply put, this clause prohibits federal officeholders, elected, hired, or confirmed by the U.S. Senate, from receiving any gift, payment, or item of value from a foreign state and/or its attendant representatives.

Besides denying any access to his taxes, President Trump runs a private mini-business empire, and since much of that is in real estate, the labyrinthine inner workings of his finances and the many avenues by which he can profit from his position as American president are not fully known.

We do know that besides his eight-figure inheritance from his virulently racist father and multiple bankruptcies, his hotel ventures have made millions from foreign dignitaries and their governments since taking office.

Unprecedentedly, Trump not only refuses to release his taxes, he also has not divested himself from his businesses or placed his holdings in a blind trust. There's no way to know how or when or if he is making policy decisions based on America's best interest or his own self-serving ones.

But considering how often and ardently he reveals his malignant narcissism, self-aggrandizement, delusional proclamations of his accomplishments, and his 10,000+ lies in general, we can make an educated guess that his finances and his policy proposals aren't all about America's growth.

America, if nothing else, has had a great PR campaign. The world considers America to be free, fair, prosperous, and well-educated, with a highly sophisticated electoral system. For the poor and plebian, none of these are true. Our elections are disorderly and antiquated, shod through with gerrymandering and schemes to disenfranchise voters.

The stress test confronting the U.S. system of checks and balances is upon us. And so far, it looks as though it will not pass.

Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside Seoul. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.