Features of parliamentarism in the Republic of Korea

The Constitution of the Republic of Korea was created with the active participation of American specialists, however, in some innovations relating to the president and parliament there are significant differences from US norms. For example, in the Constitution of 1948, and then in constitutions under military regimes and during the period of democratization, the parliament is unicameral. The latest constitution, adopted in October 1987, established different terms of office for the president and parliament. The President can only serve one five-year term. Therefore, the years of presidential and parliamentary elections coincide only once every 20 years. This creates very complex political and legal problems not only in the country’s governance system, but also in the overall vector of economic and socio-political development. It often happens that either the president is forced to start his work with an opposition parliament, or the parliament becomes opposition as a result of elections, which can take place at the beginning or middle of the president’s term. President Yun Seok-yeol took office on May 10, 2022, when the opposition party had a significant majority in parliament. He had big plans for restructuring the government and reforms, but he understood that the opposition, led by his opponent in the elections, would not allow him to pass the relevant laws through parliament. He set a course for changing the composition of parliament in the elections on April 10, 2024, so that after the elections for the remaining three years of his presidential term, he could pass the necessary laws through parlament, where he hoped he would be able to obtain a loyal composition. Two weeks before the parliamentary elections on April 10, 2024, his approval rating was 34%. The election results are as follows: the presidential party (Gukmin Him - People Power) received a total of 108 parliamentary seats, the main opposition party (Toburo Minjudan Democratic Party of Toburo) - 175, a party that emerged just a month before the elections under the significant name Choguk Heksin Dan (Innovation Party Homeland) - 12, Gehek Sindan Party (New Reform Party) - 3, Seroun Mire Party (New Future) - 1, Chinbo Dan (Progress Party) - 1. The main reason for this result of the parliamentary elections is a negative assessment of the president’s activities, although economic reasons also played a role, including rising prices for consumer goods, primarily food. A week after the elections, public opinion polls showed that the president’s popularity rating was only 23%, and the number of people who assessed his activities negatively was 68%. Over the past 20 years, in almost all party factions in parliament, three main ones have been distinguished - the so-called zhuryu (main current), i.e. a group loyal to the leader of the party and faction, then the bijuryu group (not the main current) - not part of the main group, it can sometimes have up to 25% of the deputies and its opposition can greatly weaken the position of the main current. And finally, the third group is banzhuryu, i.e. anti-main stream, deputies who often do not agree with the course of the party and faction at all. In this situation, naturally, the opposition will try to use some kind of pretext to impeach the president. During parliamentary decisions to impeach the president in 2004 and 2016 opposition managed to attract votes from at least two dozen deputies from the presidential party. And now the task is to attract at least 8 deputies from the ruling party. Since there are several dozen deputies who are skeptical about Yoon Seok Yeol’s presidency, the task does not impossible.