Interview with President of Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe
- 6 years ago
Negotiations are underway to amend Korea's Constitution to better reflect the social and economic changes... as well as to put the country on course toward being a modern democracy.
Something long overdue, the last revision is from 3-decades back.
Our Kim Min-ji sat down with Bruno Kaufmann, President of the Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe, who's been at the forefront of promoting direct democracy.
South Korea took the road to democracy some thirty years ago -- ending an era of military dictatorship.
And last year, the country took that democracy to another level through the candlelight protests that led to the ousting of a president -- thanks to their peaceful nature.
"Making participatory democracy a formal part
of the making of politics here is very important -- because we come from more autocratic traditions. Sometimes you really need to go out on the streets and get your voice heard but in a normal situation, of course it would be better to use the ballot box to use your formal rights."
"The main reason that sparked the candlelight protests was a deep underlying problem in Korean society. Koreans face is ridding the political system of corruption. There are shady dealings among politicians, high-ranking officials and the family-controlled conglomerates. With that in mind, how can Korea finally put an end to the rampant corruption that seems so engrained in Korean culture?"
"You have a system where many things are done behind closed doors --
so transparency is important, but of course division and separation of powers is important. Not all the powers should lie in the hands of one person in office -- so more decentralization, more direct democracy,
more proportionality are ways to go."
In that sense, efforts are in the works to amend the country's constitution, seeking to dilute the concentration of power and introduce more features of modern democracy.
"I think it's very important that the people have the rights to question things more openly -- giving the minority an opportunity to raise an issue to the people and to the nation and to discuss it and decide on it.
I think is a very important step toward a mature democracy in the country.
On the other side, the recall is a check on elected people, so it's not possible to see an election as a free way of allowing whatever an elected person wants -- so I think this check and balance is important to making democracy a little more democratic."
But to get to the next level -- a full democracy -- hurdles need to be overcome.
"Those in power are normally a little skeptical about sharing power with others and the opposition are very skeptical about those in power.
But what's very important for Korea is that bring all this conversation about democracy and the country as such from the small circles of parliament and the government into the whole people because the candlelight rallies have shown that very many people, especially young people,
Something long overdue, the last revision is from 3-decades back.
Our Kim Min-ji sat down with Bruno Kaufmann, President of the Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe, who's been at the forefront of promoting direct democracy.
South Korea took the road to democracy some thirty years ago -- ending an era of military dictatorship.
And last year, the country took that democracy to another level through the candlelight protests that led to the ousting of a president -- thanks to their peaceful nature.
"Making participatory democracy a formal part
of the making of politics here is very important -- because we come from more autocratic traditions. Sometimes you really need to go out on the streets and get your voice heard but in a normal situation, of course it would be better to use the ballot box to use your formal rights."
"The main reason that sparked the candlelight protests was a deep underlying problem in Korean society. Koreans face is ridding the political system of corruption. There are shady dealings among politicians, high-ranking officials and the family-controlled conglomerates. With that in mind, how can Korea finally put an end to the rampant corruption that seems so engrained in Korean culture?"
"You have a system where many things are done behind closed doors --
so transparency is important, but of course division and separation of powers is important. Not all the powers should lie in the hands of one person in office -- so more decentralization, more direct democracy,
more proportionality are ways to go."
In that sense, efforts are in the works to amend the country's constitution, seeking to dilute the concentration of power and introduce more features of modern democracy.
"I think it's very important that the people have the rights to question things more openly -- giving the minority an opportunity to raise an issue to the people and to the nation and to discuss it and decide on it.
I think is a very important step toward a mature democracy in the country.
On the other side, the recall is a check on elected people, so it's not possible to see an election as a free way of allowing whatever an elected person wants -- so I think this check and balance is important to making democracy a little more democratic."
But to get to the next level -- a full democracy -- hurdles need to be overcome.
"Those in power are normally a little skeptical about sharing power with others and the opposition are very skeptical about those in power.
But what's very important for Korea is that bring all this conversation about democracy and the country as such from the small circles of parliament and the government into the whole people because the candlelight rallies have shown that very many people, especially young people,