There is a strong tendency of the relationship between President Yun Posun and Prime Minister Chang Myun only with the cliquish conflict between the old faction and the new faction in the Democratic Party in the description of the political history of...
There is a strong tendency of the relationship between President Yun Posun and Prime Minister Chang Myun only with the cliquish conflict between the old faction and the new faction in the Democratic Party in the description of the political history of the Second Republic of Korea. It cannot be said that this description method is completely wrong, but in order to understand the relationship between President Yun Posun and Prime Minister Chang Myun during the Second Republic of Korea better, it is necessary to look into not only the persons, ‘Yun Posun’ and ‘Chang Myun’ themselves, but also their positions, ‘President’ and ‘Prime Minister’ more closely. Especially, we should pay attention to a few principal authorities given to the President, who is the nominal head of the state under the parliamentary system. Contradiction and confusion over the authorities and responsibilities of the President and Prime Minister continued throughout the Second Republic of Korea. Although the Parliamentary system the Second Republic of Korea adopted modeled the pure Parliamentary system of the U.K., there was a confusion as if the President had power as in the Presidential system by giving the President substantial authorities to check for fear of the dictatorship of the majority party in the Parliament and the Prime Minister. Here, the cliquish opposition of interest aroused an interpretation from a self-centered angle, concerning the President’s constitutional authorities and responsibilities, which consequently, brought about an amplified collision between these two persons as time passed. Also, immediately after the May 16 Coup, President Yun Posun and Prime Minister Chang Myun shifted responsibilities to the other, regarding the issue of ‘prerogative of supreme command’ directly related to the suppression of the coup, which is a typical example that clearly shows how serious problems the conflicts of authorities between the President and the Prime Minister because of the institutional contradiction of the times caused.