Constitutional Politics

Abstract

In 1948, the Constitution was enacted by the Constitutional National Assembly, and a presidential system was adopted. But it was a hybrid system with both presidential and parliamentary system elements. Even though nine constitutions have been promulgated since then, this characteristic has remained fundamentally unchanged. Under the authoritarian regimes, the dictators forcibly revised the Constitution to strengthen their power and extend their terms of office. Constitutional politics, then, was fraught with serious conflict. South Korea was democratized in 1987, and the Constitution was democratically revised accordingly. The most important thing in this new Constitution was the restoration of the popularly elected presidential system. But the 1987 Constitution was modelled on the 1962 Constitution, and does not fit well with today’s democratized and diverse Korean society. The need to decentralize the authority and power of central government is another reason for constitutional reform.