Kyuha Choi

Dear citizens,

Dear distinguished guests attending this event!

Today, on the occasion of my inauguration as the 10th President of the Republic of Korea, I would like to first express my deep appreciation to the delegates of the National Assembly for Unification and the people who elected me as the President.

I have just taken the oath in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, and with a solemn heart have once again felt the great responsibility of being the President.

Looking back, after the sudden death of the late President Park Chung-hee on October 26, our government and people have maintained stability and order by strictly observing the funeral despite shock, shock, and mourning, and cool-headedly responding to the ensuing events. .

Our military maintained an iron-clad front and rear defense posture, and the U.S. Department of Defense took prompt diplomatic and military measures to make clear the firmness of its defense commitment to Korea.

As a result, a de facto national consensus was reached based on the desire of the majority of the people for stability, and the president was elected on December 6th in accordance with constitutional procedures.

However, along with the current domestic situation, the surrounding situation surrounding our country and the harsh reality of the international environment show no signs of easing or improving, and rather, various difficulties are increasing.

This is creating a correlation with the internal problems that have continued since the October 26 incident, increasing the severity of the national crisis we are facing.

As confrontations and disputes continue to rage around the world, turbulence is occurring throughout international politics, and the risk of military conflict is also looming.

The global economy, which is still struggling to avoid stagnation, reflects the uncertainty in international politics amidst fierce competition among each country to defend its rights and interests, making the future outlook even more uncertain.

The oil crisis caused by the recent Middle East crisis is having a significant impact on the overall global economy by not only causing a series of rises in crude oil prices but also deteriorating the supply situation, and is dealing a severe blow to non-oil-producing developing countries such as Korea in particular. .

The surrounding situation on the Korean Peninsula is still complex and fluid, and the North Korean communist group, which has continued to increase its military power by taking advantage of this, is intensifying its plots and instigation to divide our national opinion and cause social chaos, especially after the October 26 incident , and in some cases, the possibility of even committing reckless military provocations cannot be ruled out.

Therefore, I cannot help but tell our citizens clearly that our country is in a state of emergency.

When we face our internal and external realities, the current government's responsibility to protect the nation's security and the people's right to survive while strengthening the national flag is more important than ever before. Therefore, I cannot help but say that the current government led by me is a [crisis management government] aimed at overcoming the national crisis.

Based on this background and perception, I will set the basic goals of future state administration to strengthen national security, maintain social stability and public order, stabilize people's lives and ensure stable economic growth, and achieve steady political development. We aim to achieve sustainable national development by promoting .

First, in order to further strengthen the security of the nation, we will continue to promote the plan to increase the strength of the Armed Forces and focus on further strengthening the independent national defense posture by boosting the morale of military personnel across the country. Our Armed Forces maintain its original posture and pledge to become the cornerstone of national defense under an orderly leadership and command system. In addition, we will further promote the friendly cooperative relationship between Korea and the United States in various fields such as security, economy, culture, and society, strengthen the mutual defense cooperation system between the two countries, and strive to efficiently operate the ROK-US Combined Forces Command.

Regarding relations with Japan, we seek to promote good-neighborly cooperative relations between the two countries under the common recognition that friendly cooperative relations between Korea and Japan are essential to peace and stability in Northeast Asia . In addition, the government will strengthen existing friendly and cooperative relationships with other allies, while promoting an open-door policy toward countries with different ideologies and systems than ours in order to expand the foundation for peaceful unification.

We will also promote substantive cooperative relationships with non-aligned countries and expand our support base in the international community.

Meanwhile, there is no change in our policy stance to ease tensions and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula, and we will continue to make efforts toward this end.

Therefore, I would like to resume the Inter-Korean Coordination Committee pursuant to the July 4th Inter-Korean Joint Statement, the resumption of inter-Korean Red Cross talks, the holding of relevant ministerial meetings for economic and technological exchanges between North and South Korea, meetings between responsible authorities of South and North Korea, and the resumption of inter-Korean Red Cross talks. We make it clear that our series of proposals for dialogue, including holding a trilateral meeting, are still valid, and we repeatedly urge North Korea to quickly respond to any of the above dialogue methods.

Folks!

No matter how much internal and external efforts are strengthened to solidify the nation's security, if confrontation and division arise within us and create disorder and confusion, it will not only lower our national defense capabilities, but also lead to misjudgments by North Korean communist groups and harm their relations with South Korea. We must not forget for a moment that this may result in provocation being brought upon ourselves.

The government will do its best to secure the understanding and cooperation of the people and establish a foundation for social stability, including maintaining national law and order and ensuring public safety.

Folks!

Among the difficulties we face now, it cannot be said that the global economic crisis is the most serious ordeal.

As already mentioned, the confusion and stagnation of the international economy are expected to intensify common phenomena such as high prices, low growth, sluggish trade, and increased unemployment in the economies of each country in the future, and Korea's economy, which is an open system, may not be an exception to this. doesn't exist.

These international economic conditions will pose great difficulties to our country's economy next year, for example, resulting in a slowdown in export growth due to rising raw material prices, a decrease in growth rate, and employment problems.

In particular, there are concerns that the imbalance in the balance of payments will further expand on our economy as additional burdens are added due to the repeated rise in oil prices.

Considering recent trends in crude oil prices, it is assumed that the additional burden of securing crude oil next year will reach $3 billion. To put it bluntly, this means that our people's income will be reduced to that extent, causing great difficulties in the lives of our people.

In response to this, the government will make every effort to stabilize our economy and achieve stability in the lives of our people by alleviating and absorbing external shocks as much as possible.

In addition, we must develop a nationwide energy conservation movement while striving to promote technology and science to ensure efficient use of various resources, including energy .

However, to be honest, it is difficult for the government alone to overcome this difficult situation and achieve stable growth of our economy.

The Government and the people as a whole, as well as workers and businessmen, must persevere and work diligently and economically to resolve this difficult task as a united body.

Dear fellow citizens!

In this way, while preventing threats to the safety of our country and the people's right to live, we also face the task of political development to pursue gradual change and improvement in response to the changing times.

In the 'Special Message on Current Affairs' on November 10, I said, 'With regard to political development issues, including constitutional amendments, the newly elected president will not complete the remaining term stipulated in the current Constitution, but will listen to the opinions of all walks of life as soon as realistically possible. He expressed the opinion that, broadly speaking, the Constitution should be revised and elections should be held in accordance with the Constitution.

In addition, I have emphasized that this issue must be dealt with in an orderly manner according to constitutional procedures, without interrupting the constitution even for a moment, through careful and serious research and review. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that there is currently no change in my beliefs.

An important premise in matters of political development is that we must correctly understand the current national reality within the flow of our history and carefully design our future with continuity based on this recognition.

To reiterate, when it comes to political development, we must see the reality of the crisis we are facing, meet the people's expectations for stability and order, and carefully and steadily pursue the country's future while looking ahead.

Looking back briefly on our constitutional history since the liberation of August 15th, as you are well aware, we have enacted or revised various types of constitutions and implemented them several times.

In July 1952, the presidential election system according to the Constitution enacted in 1948 was changed to a direct presidential system, and after April 19, in June 1960, a constitution with a cabinet responsibility system was adopted.

At this time, the revised Constitution was due to political and social unrest at the time and our insufficient ability to adapt, so the function of this system was not fully exercised, leading to repeated political instability and confusion, which ultimately led to the discontinuation of the Constitution after less than a year. It ended up happening.

After the May 16 Military Revolution, the Constitution was revised to transfer civilian administration in December 1962, and the current Constitution was adopted in December 1972.

While going through this series of constitutional amendments, we were never able to achieve a peaceful transfer of government, and we were unable to achieve a balance between economic and social growth and political growth, so there was always a gap between the two.

Therefore, in the future revision of the Constitution, we should deeply reflect on the mistakes of our constitutional history and learn from the experience of paying a high price, so that we will not have any regrets in the future from a national perspective and will lay the foundation for sustainable democratic development. This is what it should be.

On this premise, I would like to express my opinion on the issue of constitutional amendment.

First, it must be a constitution that can protect the continuity of the nation and ensure national security under the harsh circumstances of the confrontation between North and South Korea resulting from the division of the country.

Second, we need to come up with a mechanism to prevent abuse of political power and corruption in advance.

Third, it should not be a constitution that has the potential to cause extreme division of public opinion and social chaos.

Fourth, the realization of social justice and equity is a value that we should all pursue, but this should not lead to a challenge to our free economic system itself. This is because we aim to create a free and prosperous society by encouraging social vitality by respecting individual creativity and efforts under the principle of equal opportunity.

Meanwhile, regarding the constitutional amendment process, I do not believe that it can be handled only within the scope of a certain political party or organization, and I also believe that it is undesirable for it to be the product of a convenient compromise between certain stakeholders.

I understand that discussions and research on constitutional issues are currently underway in all walks of life, including the National Assembly, and I am hopeful that excellent ideas and measures will emerge. Since I have a great responsibility in enacting the country's highest basic law, as I have already declared, going forward, as a government, I will begin detailed research and review at an appropriate time while broadly listening to the opinions of all walks of life across the country.

Considering all the circumstances, including the resolution of the impasse and the importance of constitutional issues, I believe that, unless there are special circumstances, we will be able to prepare a constitution containing content that the majority of the people can agree on in about a year. We hope that by steadily taking all necessary measures, we will be able to hold a fair election as soon as possible. One thing I would like to add here is that I believe that there is a need to operate the current Constitution in response to the changes of the times and the needs of the people, and at least I would like to state that I plan to take this attitude in the future.

In any case, when discussing the Constitution, we must cooperate with each other in deriving the greatest common divisor of public opinion at the national level, and while all citizens achieve social stability by establishing national legal order, we must exercise restraint and not be obsessed with the current situation and political positions. We must form the basis for national consensus by harmonizing through goodwill and trust.

Our citizens must keep in mind that a solid foundation for stability in our society is an essential condition for overcoming the impending economic crisis and promoting political development, and that both the government and the people must do their best with understanding, patience, and cooperation. I'll do it. Also, in times like these, we must not forget that the key to stability and development is for each citizen to do his or her best in each field of society.

Folks!

We are now at a major turning point in history, ending the 1970s and entering the 1980s. Through the successful implementation of the third five-year economic development plan, we have already laid the foundation for industrialization and emerged on the international stage as a newly industrialized country.

However, with the rapid progress of industrialization, economic and social changes occurred, which led to instability in the autonomous system, partially resulting in friction, conflict, and new problems.

I think there is a connection between these problems and the development tasks under the principles of liberal democracy that we seek.

This is because democracy is difficult to establish simply by imitating external systems, and can be implemented by first rationalizing our thinking and behavior patterns based on national reality. In other words, all citizens must strive to balance responsibility for freedom and obligations for rights.

Additionally, we must have the awareness and pride that we are citizens of a country ruled by law, which is an indispensable requirement for a civilized country.

By doing this, we will be able to develop adaptive capabilities to respond to economic and social changes, wisely solve various problems, and smoothly promote national development, as we promise.

To this end, I plan to expand the scope of national participation for peace, stability, and development, and to mobilize all of our wisdom and experience to overcome the current situation and run state affairs. In addition, as I have repeatedly said, I would like to have a wide range of dialogue with people from all walks of life in order to hear their opinions, and in order to receive advice on the basics of national administration, the organization will be composed of senior political figures, senior figures, and people with both character and virtue. I am willing to build a device that works.

Folks!

Our people have experienced countless national disasters and breakdowns throughout our long history, but each time we have wisely overcome them and preserved our own survival and cultural traditions.

Now we face another national ordeal.

Now is the time when patriotism and unity are desperately required from all of our people.

Also, now is the time when we must all unite with patience and self-control to prepare for building a higher-level nation. Just as a drop of water gathers to form a proud giant river, let us all move forward together to create a new history for our glorious homeland.

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December 21, 1979 Choi Kyu-ha, President of the Republic of Korea

In order to establish a historical biography of the establishment of a new society of stability, attorney and prosperity, by leaving a peaceful precedent to our constitutional history, which eliminated and unhappy in Korea by realizing responsibility in Korea, and pledges harmony and unity by all the people planted to establish a new society in accordance with the request of the times. I have made a significant decision about my struggle.
In other words, I have decided today to step down from the office of President and hand over the government to an acting President in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
In the peaceful transfer of the democratic state, I believe that the chief executive of the state is to transfer the government to the successor in accordance with the constitutional procedure in its own judgment and determination in terms of national priority.
As I left the president's position today, I would like to ask you to build a democratic state that is united by the people and unite with understanding and harmony, not confrontation and division, and will establish the foundation for peaceful unification based on the national private tradition of Korea.

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1980 8 Will 16