On August 8, Lee Ju-ho, Minister of Education, Science and Technology, announced the 2011 Revised Educational Curriculum that used the historical term ‘liberal democracy’ instead of just ‘democracy.’ He insisted that the term ‘liberal democracy’ was correct based on the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. But the term ’liberal democracy’ and the term of ‘the basic free and democratic order’ from our Constitution, are completely different from each other.
‘Liberal democracy,’ also known as ‘Constitutional democracy,’ is a common form of the Representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive. Political pluralism is usually defined with the presence of multiple and distinct political parties. A liberal democracy may take various constitutional forms: it may be a constitutional republic, or a constitutional monarchy. It may have a presidential system, or a parliamentary system.
The term ‘the basic free and democratic order’ first appeared in the The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. It was formally approved on May 8th 1949, and with the signature of the Allied states of World War II on May 12th, came into effect on May 23rd, as the Constitution of those states in West Germany which were initially included within the Federal Republic. Basic rights are fundamental to the Basic Law, in contrast to the Weimar Constitution, which listed them merely as “state objectives.” Pursuant to the mandate to respect human dignity, all state power is directly bound to guarantee these basic rights. Article 1 of the Basic Law, which establishes this principle that “human dignity is inviolable” and that human rights are directly applicable law, as well as the general principles of the state in Article 20 GG, which guarantees democracy, republicanism, social responsibility, federalism, and the right of resistance should anybody undertake to abolish this order, remain under the guarantee of perpetuity stated in Article 79 Paragraph 3, i.e., those two cannot be changed even if the normal amendment process is followed.
Therefore Lee Ju-ho’s opinion that ‘liberal democracy’ is the same thing with ‘the basic free and democratic order,’ lacks any sort of a logical base. The argument is simply unsound. He should re-announce the 2011 Revised Educational Curriculum.