21세기 바람직한 정부조직과 정부조직법

Abstract

First and foremost, a discussion concerning government structure has to be done in connection with the state form and the governmental form. For practical reasons, there is a need to balance the principle of legality and its exceptions under the Government Organization Act. To ensure the flexibility of government structure with respect to the principle of legality, the National Assembly should accept the government structure requested by the newly elected government. This mitigates the rigidity of the principle of the legality within the government organizations. However, excessive changes by each government could violate the principle of legality asked by Constitution. In this sense, arbitrary modification with respect to the government structure by the newly elected government is not desirable. The long term stability of the government organization is required in any case. Secondly, general administrative agencies, other than Executive Ministries, should not be established under the direct order of the President without the control of the Prime Minister. A hierarchy of the executive branch (President->Prime Minister-> Executive Ministries) is stipulated in the Constitution. Establishing a hierarchy of President -> executive institution should be considered unconstitutional. Therefore, only the Presidential Secretariat and institutions with special functions can be established in the Presidential Office. Establishing general administrative agencies in the Presidential Office for convenience purposes is against the spirit of the current Constitution. Consequently, only the office of staffs and special agencies can be placed in the presidential office. It is against the spirit of the current Constitution to found administrative agencies under the presidential office for convenience. Thirdly, the office of the Prime Minister should be the backbone of internal affairs. In that sense, the President, as the head of state, should focus on the big picture such as the direction of the State, while the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister should be responsible for the daily affairs of the State. The cabinet surrounding the Prime Minister must control all the ordinary affairs of the State, while the President, as the head of the State, should focus on the big picture of blueprinting the aim of the State. Lastly, the Office of the Prime Minister and Executive Ministries are the two main bodies of the executive branch. It is important to reduce the confusion caused by repeated changes in the names of Executive Ministries, to restore the traditional names and authorities of these institutions, and to rehabilitate the legitimacy of the State. For the Korean democracy to take its roots, a systematic way of stabilizing a law-governed democratic country is needed. There is also the need not only to reform security and economic agencies, but also to rationally solve the integration of technique and policy, according to the changes of time.