단상斷想

Yoon Suk-yeol is the worst person among all past presidents. Although Yoon Suk-yeol self-destructed due to an illegal state of emergency, his reign as president was a disaster on the level of completely ruining the democracy and national management system that we have painstakingly built up until now.

The absurd actions of Yoon Suk-yeol that are slowly being revealed are leaving people speechless. The suspicion that he launched drones into Pyongyang around October of last year to induce war is slowly solidifying into fact. I remember writing a column here on October 15 of last year entitled "'Pyongyang Drone' Incident, Yoon Suk-yeol's 'Martial Law Inducement Missile'?" with a sense of doubt.

If this suspicion is true, Yoon Seok-yeol will be a traitor who sold the country for the sake of winning against Lee Jae-myung. In particular, his ultra-legal deviation is the worst crime equivalent to 'murder' in that the lives and safety of innocent people were almost sacrificed.

In addition, in early July, Rep. Choi Hyuk-jin raised shocking suspicions in the National Assembly that Kim Gun-hee's family was involved in a super-large philopon smuggling case worth 1.7 trillion won, and that a police officer investigating the case was demoted due to external pressure from power, and that state agencies systematically concealed the case. Rep. Choi defined the case as a 'super-large power-related corruption' and filed a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials.

If this suspicion is also true, it means that Kim Keon-hee's family tried to make a fortune through drug dealing under the protection of the prosecution-presidential power called 'Yoon Seok-yeol'. In terms of security, it means that they tried to induce a North Korean attack with drone provocations to eliminate unsightly opposition parties and create justification for martial law, and privately played a supporting role in Kim Keon-hee's family's drug business.

However, there was no 'system' for us to stop or check Yoon Seok-yeol from trying to ruin the entire Republic of Korea with Kim Keon-hee's family. According to the Yoon Seok-yeol arrest warrant issued by the Jo Eun-seok Insurrection Special Investigation Team, the president ordered the destruction of forged martial law proclamations after the fact, arbitrarily damaging national records, and ordered the presidential security guards to show firearms to threaten the police, treating 'national security personnel' as bodyguards for celebrities. He committed heinous acts of a rogue in the name of the president.

The president, who used to throw drinking parties in the evenings and, in his drunken state, call around and pretend to discuss "national affairs" to show off his power and enjoy boasting about his meager knowledge from his "nine years in Sillim-dong," would have likely seen national discipline and the public consciousness of the supreme ruler gradually disappear with the morning hangover. Yoon Suk-yeol's mocking of national discipline and his reckless disruption of the national system in this way is a criminal act in itself.

In particular, the Chae Marine case escalated into a power-related corruption case because of the 'VIP's rage.' The series of events in which the Marine Corps' meticulously investigated investigation records became scraps of paper due to Yoon Seok-yeol's fit of anger and the truth was concealed clearly showed that the president was not in his right mind and the country was not in a normal state.

During the three years that Yoon Seok-yeol was in office, the South Korean national system was thoroughly ruined. Due to the reckless behavior and drunken spirit of one 'mad president,' South Korea was shaken here and there and was on the verge of collapsing on the street.

This situation presents President Lee Jae-myung with a grave and weighty task. It is unacceptable for a leader below the level of Yoon Suk-yeol to emerge, but if, unfortunately, the people are deceived again and such a president is born, President Lee Jae-myung must establish a strong system and checks and balances to prevent recurrence in the future. This is the spirit of the age for the Lee Jae-myung government and a solid cornerstone for Korea's advanced 100-year plan.

As we briefly examined in the last episode, King Jeongjo is regarded as the 'last reformist monarch' of Joseon, not just a decisive leader but a system-oriented leader, that is, an operational king who valued systems and manuals. In addition to symbolic reforms such as the Tangpyeong policy, Gyujanggak, and Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, he also designed very universal and practical system politics.

A representative example is the compilation of 'Daejeon Tongpyeon'. Daejeon Tongpyeon was a huge system unification project that integrated the Joseon version of the 'National Operation Constitution and Enforcement Decree'. Jeongjo compiled laws, enforcement rules, and practices that had been scattered for 400 years to create 'Daejeon Tongpyeon' (1785-86). He organized the duplication and conflict between laws and regulations, and made it into a consultation system with the participation of all department (Yukjo) heads. This is not just a 'legal code arrangement' but a representative example of Jeongjo's systematic state administration to ensure administrative consistency and coordinate the interests of each department.

From a modern perspective, this can be seen as an institutional reform to enhance the standardization and transparency of national administration. As a competent administrator who served as the Mayor of Seongnam and the Governor of Gyeonggi Province, I believe President Jae-myung Lee possesses the knowledge system and administrative power to compile a modern version of 'Daejeon Tongpyeon'. Yoon Suk-yeol's 'whimsical politics' was a 'man-made disaster' stemming from a lack of consistency in policy decisions, impulsive leadership, and inadequate institutional checks and balances.

In order for President Lee Jae-myung to overcome this, it is necessary to increase the predictability and stability of policies through systematic institutionalization like the Daejeon Tongpyeon. Scholars evaluate the Daejeon Tongpyeon as a case that strengthened the centralized administrative system and increased the efficiency of the bureaucracy. If the Lee Jae-myung government also needs to pursue administrative transparency, prevention of abuse of power, and policy continuity, how about closely studying the historical situation at the time of King Jeongjo's compilation of the Daejeon Tongpyeon and the emergence of its necessity?

However, one disappointing aspect is that the Daejeon Tongpyeon (Comprehensive Statutes of Daejeon) failed to maintain its continuity after King Jeongjo's death, and some laws became obsolete. This is because the system heavily relied on the charisma and leadership of a specific leader (King Jeongjo). If the system politics of the Lee Jae-myung government refer to the Daejeon Tongpyeon, I hope that research will also be conducted on how to realize and ensure the sustainability of the system and the accountability of the leader.

However, on the other hand, there are concerns about the situation President Lee Jae-myung is in. If Yoon Seok-yeol became a dictatorial leader due to his personal character, President Lee Jae-myung may inevitably remain a 'closed-type leader' due to the current political environment. Yoon Yeo-jun, former Minister of Environment, a 'conservative strategist' who helped President Lee in the last presidential election, recently said to President Lee, "I would like to tell you to be wary of being overly confident."

This ‘excessive confidence’ can also be heard as a warning that there is no ‘red team’ around President Lee that appropriately controls and adjusts his ‘confidence.’ President Lee is touring around the country holding town hall meetings. When he went to South Jeolla Province, he turned Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung into an ‘squid.’ President Lee directly refutes the demands of local government heads who make demands without alternatives, and sometimes rebukes them.

Those who have served President Lee Jae-myung say unanimously that he is smart and bright. He is worthy of being called a master of administration. But the realm of a master of politics is a different matter. He must have a posture of listening, compromise, consideration, and deliberation ingrained in him. This is actually an almost impossible demand for the President of Korea, who has enormous power. No matter how humble a president is, a kind of 'heroism' will inevitably be triggered due to vast access to the national system and top-level information access.

In this regard, the 'state affairs' that institutionalize and create a manual for the limits of even the mood, emotions, and surging confidence of the supreme power holder, the president, are truly the reincarnation of King Jeongjo. The United States has meticulously established institutional time bombs and control devices, from military and emergency powers to financial administration, to prevent presidential unilateralism.

The 'War Powers Resolution' enacted in 1973 stipulates that if the President initiates military action, he must report to Congress within 48 hours and automatically withdraw troops if Congress does not approve it within 60 days, thereby institutionalizing the principle that 'the power to start a war rests with Congress.' The 'National Emergencies Act' of 1976 also forces emergency declarations made by the President to be automatically reviewed by Congress every year and is designed to allow Congress to pass a resolution to terminate them at any time.

In the financial sector, the 'Impoundment Control Act' enacted in 1974 stipulates that if the President arbitrarily delays or suspends the execution of the approved budget, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will automatically launch an investigation and immediately notify Congress, fundamentally preventing the President from controlling policies by holding the 'purse strings.'

The United States has long institutionalized a system to control and manage the President's 'madman politics' just in case. We also need to take the United States as a textbook. The Korean President excessively concentrates military command, emergency martial law, budget formulation, and execution authority, so there is a structural loophole in which unconstitutional acts can be packaged as legal if there is only a 'private intention.'

A Korean-style system control system to prevent this is also emerging as an idea in the political arena. For example, there is a proposal to enact a National Emergency Power Control Act that requires reporting to the National Assembly within 48 hours of the declaration of martial law or emergency orders, and automatic termination if it lasts for more than 30 days, making re-approval by the National Assembly mandatory. There is also an idea to enact a Budget Execution Transparency Act that would automatically initiate audits by the National Assembly Budget Office and the Board of Audit and Inspection if there are delays in the execution or diversion of allocated budgets, and to disclose real-time execution logs.

Only by installing such an institutional breakwater that even the president cannot go against can we achieve a system of politics where no matter who the next president is, they cannot exceed the constitutional order. If there is any 'national interest' that the 'madman' Yoon Seok-yeol has given us, it is that he has reminded us once again that what protects the Republic of Korea is not 'people' but systems and institutions. I hope that the day will come when President Lee Jae-myung restores and institutionalizes 'Daejeon Tongpyeon,' which King Jeongjo created 240 years ago.