The moment the Constitution was enacted
The moment Korea was founded

From June 23 to July 12, 1948
A Feast of Politics in the Minutes of the Constitutional Assembly

In the 20 days of history that designed the Republic of Korea
Finding the Future of the Democratic Republic

May 10, 1948.
The old order of power bestowed by heaven was overturned, and the people drew sticks to elect their own officials.
With approximately 7.48 million voters and a voter turnout of 95.5%, 198 members of the first National Assembly were elected.
Immediately after the opening ceremony, a crowd of people gathered in front of Seoul City Hall and along Taepyeong-ro and Sejong-ro to support the Constitutional Assembly and march to celebrate independence.
The moment when the "Democratic Republic," a nation where all people are equal, a long-awaited dream since the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, was born was grand and splendid, like the curtain call of liberation after a long period of oppression.
However, liberation was not an end, but a new beginning.

It took only 20 days for the Constitution of the Republic of Korea to be created.
After the draft constitution was presented to the plenary session of the Constitutional Assembly on June 23, 1948, it was not until July 12 that all 10 chapters and 103 articles of the constitution were passed.
The 20 days of history that shaped the Republic of Korea are recorded in their entirety in the minutes of the Constitutional Assembly, and the content contained in those records is qualitatively different from today's constitutional amendment debate, which is mired in issues such as "presidential system or cabinet system."
The 20-day record, meticulously written by a stenographer, provides a detailed account of the mindset of the 198 members of the Constitutional Assembly as they embarked on drafting the Constitution.
The minutes are filled with a sense of mission that a good constitution can create a good country, a sense of responsibility to quickly enact a constitution and establish a government, regret that better provisions could not be created due to the burden of reality, and a fervor to make the people's lives better.
Therefore, the 'feast of politics' that the members of the Constitutional Assembly unfolded with their tongues is the driving force that designed today's Republic of Korea, and a source of imagination that provides endless inspiration to those who dream of a new Republic of Korea.

A constitution is a promise embodying the values ​​a nation pursues, a minimal fence protecting the lives of the vulnerable, and a milestone illuminating the future of a community.
As time passes, politics and the people become more and more distant, and hope is lost.
For those who dream of breaking through the era of despair and creating a new republic, "The Moment of the Constitution," which covers the process of creating the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly in 1948, was published.
This book returns to the starting point of the Republic of Korea and explores the identity of the democratic republic and the future of the community contained in that moment.

I have to be honest and confess.
I have so far ignored the members of the Constitutional Assembly, who were elected through general elections held only in South Korea.
It was regrettable and disappointing that an election was held that would lead to the permanent division of North and South Korea.
Let alone the Constitution they created.
I never thought of it as a proper constitution.
I considered it a hastily drafted constitution, like roasting beans in a flash, to be trivial.
It was dismissed as an outdated document.
It was looked down upon as a copycat constitution patched together from other countries' constitutions.

I happened to come across a constitutional moment.
At that time, I had the opportunity to carefully look at the National Assembly minutes.
I can't forget the feelings I had at that time.
We met the vivid voices and thoughts of the members of the Constitutional Assembly.
At that moment, how earnest and vibrant they were! The sight of their earnest devotion and determination struck my heart.
The rhetoric and logic used to persuade and refute the opponent were also not easy.
That moment is literally a 'feast of politics'.
The feast made my heart beat faster and broke the prejudices in my heart.
---From the "Preface"

On March 1, 1919, the entire nation resisted the 'Korea Genocide' perpetrated by Japan.
In every corner of the country, in broad daylight, they shout, “Long live Korean independence!”
The name Daehan itself meant independence, and shouting Daehan itself was anti-Japanese.
‘Reclaiming Korea’ is liberation.
With the spirit of independence and anti-Japanese sentiment continuing, the Provisional Government decided to name the country the Republic of Korea.
We protect the national name of Korea, which Japan tried to eradicate, and raise the spirit of independence.
This historical context provides strong grounds for the argument that the national name should be set as Daehan.
---From "Chapter 1, The Korean People, To Korea"

What did you think of the debate over whether the people are the subjects of fundamental rights? What do you think of the argument that the people should be the subjects of fundamental rights? That argument captures the image of Korea we aspire to.
I hope that the Republic of Korea will be a country that faithfully guarantees freedom and equality to each and every one of its members, that the universal human rights guaranteed by the Constitution will not be a privilege granted only to the citizens who are members of the state, and that it will be a country different from the modern nation-state that guarantees rights only to the sovereign citizens and does not allow any rights to foreigners.
In 1948, a small, independent nation on the periphery aspired to become a model nation for the world, contributing to lasting world peace and the common prosperity of humanity.
I wanted to include in the Constitution the precious values ​​that were created from the experience of losing my country and living abroad as a stateless person for a long time.
In that sense, it seems that changing the people to citizens was not just a matter of losing a single word.
Perhaps, amidst division and ideological conflict, we have lost our great aspirations and even our precious values?
---From "Chapter 2: Good Words Stolen"

The preamble to the current Constitution states that “peaceful unification” is the mission of the Korean people.
Article 4 of the current Constitution states, “The Republic of Korea shall seek unification and shall establish and promote a peaceful unification policy based on the principles of liberal democracy.”
Article 66 of the current Constitution stipulates that the “peaceful unification of the country” is an important responsibility of the President.
Since the 1987 constitutional amendment, the territorial clause has served as the basis for regarding North Korea as a partner with whom we must engage in dialogue and cooperation for peaceful reunification.
The future goal of Korea is to unite the entire Korean Peninsula through dialogue and cooperation.
Perhaps that was the true spirit the Constitution sought to capture in its territorial clause. The territorial clause is a promise toward a peaceful nation, refraining from reclaiming or expanding territory through war.
It is also a pledge to protect our territory.
Because protecting territory is protecting sovereignty.
---From "Chapter 3, My Love, the Korean Peninsula"

Even before the Constitution, the March 1st Revolution was commonly referred to as an independence movement.
The problem is that the constitutional moment was a process of re-evaluating and redefining the historical nature and national significance of the March 1st Revolution.
The preamble to the Constitution declares that a democratic republic will be established by inheriting the spirit of the March 1st Movement.
They say the March 1st Movement is the root of the Republic of Korea.
At a moment when a name worthy of that assessment was needed, a movement was chosen over a revolution.
Was that really the right choice?

After the Constitution, the term March 1st Revolution became unfamiliar.
Of course, attempts to call it a revolution have not completely disappeared.
After the establishment of the government, when creating the law regarding national holidays, there were some who called for March 1st to be called 'Revolution Day', but it did not receive a favorable response.
Since the debate surrounding the name has already been settled, the proposal to call it Revolution Day is treated as a trumpet call after the procession is over.
I need to think about it now.
Is it really unfair to call it the March 1st Revolution?
---From Chapter 4, The Lost Revolution

At the moment of constitutional change, the members of the Constituent Assembly agree that 'gender equality' is an important task of the times.
In a situation where there were almost no changes to the provisions of the constitutional draft submitted by the Constitutional Drafting Committee, Article 20 was newly created.
This is because the issue of gender discrimination was a serious social problem.
Commissioner Yoo Jin-oh also expressed his pride in his memoir, saying, “The establishment of Article 20 was the greatest achievement of the second reading.”
But in 1962, the Park Chung-hee regime changed Article 20 of the Constitution.
Has the world changed much since gender equality was achieved? The details are unknown, but the phrase "Marriage is based on equal rights for men and women" from the original Constitution was deleted.
Instead, the purpose of Article 20 of the Constitution is lost by stating, “All citizens shall be protected by the State with regard to marital chastity and health.”
Fortunately, the current Constitution moved Article 20 of the Constitution to Article 36, which stipulates that “Marriage and family life must be established and maintained on the basis of individual dignity and gender equality, and the State shall guarantee this.”
Although the wording has changed slightly, the spirit of Article 20 of the Constitution, which states that women should not be unfairly discriminated against in family and marriage, has been maintained.
Article 20, born at the moment of the Constitution, presents the goal of a community where men and women live together without discrimination and with mutual respect.
---From Chapter 5, "The Time When Even a Hen Should Crow"

At the moment of the Constitution, the three letters "at least" in Article 16 were born like this.
That one word captures the spirit of the Constitution.
It is a promise to provide free compulsory education for at least six years of elementary education and to gradually expand the scope of free education to secondary education as the national economy improves.
The single word “at least” makes it possible to keep the promise to expand the scope of compulsory and free education at any time without amending the Constitution.
---From "The Great Power Contained in 'At Least'" in Chapter 6

Representative Shin Hyun-don's claims deserve careful consideration.
Because it contains all the main arguments against punishing anti-nationalists.
First, let us examine the argument that a law punishing anti-nationalists would be a law of exile.
If the Anti-National Act is enacted, it will cause fear by saying, “Everyone, including the mayor of the town, district, neighborhood, and class, can be arrested, and the entire nation will be trapped in a net.”
Second, the issue of liquidating pro-Japanese collaborators is being pushed into an ideological conflict.
Incitement like “Congressmen who advocate for the liquidation of pro-Japanese collaborators are communists” is rampant.
It doesn't end with just incitement.
They are branding the young lawmakers who led the enactment of the anti-people law according to the Constitution as spies.
They fabricate the National Assembly spy incident by lying that they were acting under the support and orders of North Korea, and put them in prison.
Third, they argue that pro-Japanese collaborators should be eliminated after the government is established.
The logic is that if we punish all pro-Japanese collaborators in a situation where human resources are insufficient, there will be no one to run the country.
Fourth, there is the argument that the country will be thrown into chaos, like burning down an entire house to catch a flea.
Now that everyone has forgotten the past and is living a normal life, why are you making a fuss?
Fifth, the theory of putting people's livelihood first.
They ask why we are leisurely talking about liquidating pro-Japanese collaborators when it is difficult to even make a living.
It is said that when you go out on the streets, there are people who say they are hungry and cannot live and ask for food and clothes, but no one says that they cannot live because of pro-Japanese collaborators and that we should liquidate them.
These logics have been a strong breakwater protecting pro-Japanese collaborators since then.
---From Chapter 7, “As the Conscience of the Nation”

The conflict between human rights and public safety that arose at the Constitutional Court is, in fact, a difficult issue to reconcile.
For communities to survive and individuals to live freely, security must be ensured.
Who wouldn't be unaware of this fact? The reason we couldn't shake off anxiety during the Constitutional Moment was because human rights were routinely suppressed in the name of public safety.
Moreover, the police officers' misdeeds are the same before and after liberation.
How miserable must the reality have been when King Noh Deok-sul, the torturer who had brutally treated independence activists during the Japanese colonial period, was running wild again as a security technician?

Looking at history, dictatorships always rise to power by suppressing freedom under the pretext of safety and human rights under the pretext of public order.
They ask if freedom or human rights will feed you.
Freedom and human rights are also threatened as being possible only on the basis of strong safety and security.
In doing so, freedom and human rights are pushed to the back burner.
In Korea, too, the logic of such barbaric dictatorship has held sway for a long time.
In the face of that logic, the freedom of the body provided for in the Constitution is utterly powerless.

The democratization of Korean society, achieved through the combined efforts of all citizens, is a process that has brought to life and vibrant freedom and human rights that had been stuffed and crouched within the Constitution.
In the process, citizens reach a social consensus that freedom and human rights are just as important as safety.
---From Chapter 8, Treat People as People

The spirit of the Constitution engraved in the Constitutional Moment is clear.
I hope for a democratic republic where people of various religions, including atheists, coexist peacefully, respecting each other without discrimination.
A democratic republic lives and breathes diversity.
The religiousization of politics or the politicization of religion, in which the state favors a particular religion and religion cooperates with a particular political group, destroys diversity.

It is not uncommon for politicians to cling to a specific religion in order to gain the votes of religious people, or for religious leaders to use votes as a weapon to manipulate political power.
The state must strictly maintain religious neutrality, and religion must not be swayed by or colluded with state power.
That is the spirit of the Constitution.
Political leaders should also refrain from favoring a particular religion or making religiously biased remarks in public settings.
Because such remarks can cause conflict between religions.
I hope that politics and religion will faithfully implement the spirit of the Constitution and develop into a peaceful, multi-religious nation, unprecedented in the world.
---From Chapter 9, “Politics is Politics, Religion is Religion”

The workers' right to participate in management will be omitted, and only the workers' right to equal share of profits will be included in the Constitution.
What does this result mean? It represents a compromise, guaranteeing entrepreneurs' management freedom while protecting workers' right to survive.
The strategy of the opposition to the amendment, which turned the issue into an ideological issue by claiming that workers' participation in management was a violation of private property rights under the communist system, has been successful.
---From Chapter 10, “True Liberation is Economic Democratization”

Commissioner Yoo Jin-oh emphasizes that the bicameral system he designed is different from the British bicameral system.
They propose forming a lower house with representatives directly elected by the people, and forming an upper house with regional and professional representatives elected separately.
They also emphasize the advantage of electing different members of the two houses and having them act differently, which allows them to look at the same issues from different perspectives.
With different perspectives, you can make decisions more carefully and calmly.
Going through the two levels of the House and the Senate is like taking a small sip of stew from a boiling pot instead of eating it straight away.
The idea is to not eat it while it's still hot, but to let it cool down before eating.
---From "Chapter 11 Stew Pot and Appetizer Plate"

There is a particularly attractive part in Rep. Kang Wook-joong's speech.
This is a passage that positively interprets the frequent political changes (coups) that occur under the cabinet system.
He criticizes Representative Lee Won-hong's view that the presidential system is much more stable than the parliamentary system because there is no political change, as being extremely narrow-minded.
The brilliant counterargument is that a coup resulting from the National Assembly's vote of no confidence in the government and the government's dissolution of the National Assembly actually makes politics more vibrant and allows for reform of reality.
There are also claims that a coup d'état that occurs under a cabinet system is actually beneficial because it can prevent extreme changes such as rebellions or coups that occur under a presidential system.
---From Chapter 12, “For Just One Person”

At the moment of constitutional change, the expectations the Constituent Assembly had for the Prime Minister are clear.
It was intended to prevent the president from monopolizing state affairs or dictating personnel decisions.
We wanted to prevent the government from becoming a presidential love room.
I expected the administration and the National Assembly to play a major role in cooperating.
How about now? The president never shares power with the prime minister.
Nor does it use the Prime Minister as a mediator to lead cooperation with the National Assembly.
Appoint as Prime Minister someone who can go to the National Assembly and fight against the National Assembly members on your behalf.
Even the Prime Minister does not try to exercise his powers according to the Constitution.
The Prime Minister's right to nominate State Council members, which is so difficult to enshrine in the Constitution, is nothing more than a power that exists only on paper.
I just endure the ridicule of being called 'Prime Minister, Plant Prime Minister'.
---From "Chapter 13: The Prime Minister and the Prime Minister"

Even at the constitutional moment, the audit of public accounting emerged as an important topic.
As a country that has just been liberated, the national financial situation is not good.
By October 1948, the country's deficit was approximately 8.5 billion won.
The annual budget for the same year was approximately 19.4 billion, so the deficit compared to the budget is enormous.
The money going out is much more than the money coming in.
The national debt continues to grow.
We have no choice but to manage our national affairs more meticulously and frugally.
We must prevent the misuse or waste of national funds.
To this end, a provision for the establishment of an accounting audit agency is included in the Constitution.
Article 94 of the Draft Constitution (Constitutional Draft) states, “The State’s revenue and expenditures shall be audited annually by the Audit Office,” and establishes an accounting audit agency called the Audit Office.
---From "Chapter 14: The Unfamiliar Name, Sim Gye-won"

A lot of time has passed.
Since the moment of the Constitution, the Constitution has been changed several times.
As that change continues, it reveals how deep and solid the roots of the Constitutional Moment are.
Despite various upheavals, the spirit of the Constitution, engraved in the Constitutional moment, continues to endure.
As we have seen, realizing political and economic democracy, creating a free, equal, and prosperous nation—this is the spirit that the Constituent Assembly members hoped would endure for eternity.
This constitutional spirit has become the foundation upon which the Republic of Korea has grown into a model nation for the world.

---From the “Conclusion”