건국절 제정의 타당성과 추진방안

Abstract

Founding of the Republic of Korea(ROK) was conducted by five stages. It could be enumerated in sequence as follows; national election → formation of National Assembly → enactment and promugation of constitution → election of president → establishment of government. Among them, declaring establishment of government means final or completing step of founding ROK as a new nation. Some people argue for the theory of ROK foundation in 1919. But such argument is not proper from the perspective of international law. It is because the Korean Provisional Government organized at Shanghai in 1919 didn't have or control a permanent population and a defined territory. Moreover it had not fully exercised a capacity to enter into relations with the other states. In short, the provisional government was not effective. On August 15, 1948, foundation of ROK was realized and from that time on ROK substantially began to act as a separate and independent entity in international society. The new nation building can be said to be revolutionary. Above all, it means the first formation and starting of the republican country on the Korean Peninsula. Second, it was "liberty revolution", namely, product from free and democratic struggle against socialist revolution strategy by communists in North and South Korea. Third, it was a bell ringing an end of colonial era and a beginning of newly established state all over the world. To sum up, foundation of ROK was very important incident in that Korean people chose a right ideology or system value, that is, "free democracy" in 1948. ROK accomplished industrialization and democratization successfully in 67 years. Now it is making efforts to pursue forward as an advanced and first-rate country. We should find or understand real significations of foundation of ROK. We should deal with the event dually not only by setting up and celebrating National Foundation Day but also by providing an honorable treatment to the persons who had contributed to ROK building.