The ruling Saenuri Party is unofficially sounding out the possibility of a constitutional revision that introduces, among other things, the division of power between the president and the prime minister in the style of France.
In the same breath, Rep. Hong Moon-jong, a confidant of President Park Geun-hye, in a radio news magazine, Thursday, talked about United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the party's standard bearer for the next presidential election, together with a powerful premier.
By many accounts, Hong's suggestion is anything but concrete.
For instance, Rep. Kim Moo-sung, the party leader and potential candidate for the 2017 presidential elections, was rebuked by Park for his remark in passing for a constitutional revision and had to recant it last October. A revision itself requires significant help from the opposition party on the basis of national consensus.
All things considered, Hong's suggestion, however, appears to be worth careful consideration from the viewpoint of national interests, especially pertaining to reunification, which is both a national priority and seen as the only viable option to unshackle the nation from the trap of low growth. Indeed, Park was right when she said "bonanza" on unification, although she has failed so far to materialize concrete steps toward it. It is often said that the next few years can be crucial to whether the nation can gain unification. To realize any chance of it, it is important for Korea to have a leader who is internationally recognized and who can deal directly with the concerned powers, namely the United States, China, Japan and Russia, as well as North Korea, and then persuade them to see the common benefit of Korean unification. In other words, Korea needs a unification president and there are few better candidates than the U.N. secretary general.
Considering the primary role of the head of state for the sake of promoting reunification, Hong can be right by relieving the president of domestic duties. Of course, it would require a lot of political and social engineering to construct a "designer" constitution. The obvious opposition by potential presidential candidates and the stance of President Park are among variables.
Another big "if" is Ban's intention. So far, he has not been clear about this issue, just repeating that speculative reports about his future will only prevent him from doing his duties as leader of the global body. Still, one cannot but say that "Unification President Ban Kim-moon" appears to be not such a bad idea.
In the same breath, Rep. Hong Moon-jong, a confidant of President Park Geun-hye, in a radio news magazine, Thursday, talked about United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the party's standard bearer for the next presidential election, together with a powerful premier.
By many accounts, Hong's suggestion is anything but concrete.
For instance, Rep. Kim Moo-sung, the party leader and potential candidate for the 2017 presidential elections, was rebuked by Park for his remark in passing for a constitutional revision and had to recant it last October. A revision itself requires significant help from the opposition party on the basis of national consensus.
All things considered, Hong's suggestion, however, appears to be worth careful consideration from the viewpoint of national interests, especially pertaining to reunification, which is both a national priority and seen as the only viable option to unshackle the nation from the trap of low growth. Indeed, Park was right when she said "bonanza" on unification, although she has failed so far to materialize concrete steps toward it. It is often said that the next few years can be crucial to whether the nation can gain unification. To realize any chance of it, it is important for Korea to have a leader who is internationally recognized and who can deal directly with the concerned powers, namely the United States, China, Japan and Russia, as well as North Korea, and then persuade them to see the common benefit of Korean unification. In other words, Korea needs a unification president and there are few better candidates than the U.N. secretary general.
Considering the primary role of the head of state for the sake of promoting reunification, Hong can be right by relieving the president of domestic duties. Of course, it would require a lot of political and social engineering to construct a "designer" constitution. The obvious opposition by potential presidential candidates and the stance of President Park are among variables.
Another big "if" is Ban's intention. So far, he has not been clear about this issue, just repeating that speculative reports about his future will only prevent him from doing his duties as leader of the global body. Still, one cannot but say that "Unification President Ban Kim-moon" appears to be not such a bad idea.