대한민국 제헌헌법과 ‘건국절’ 논란－헌법 전문과 중앙정부론을 중심으로－

According to the preamble of the 1948 Constitution of the Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea was a nation reconstructed from the spirit of independence harbored by the Daehanminguk Yimsijengbu(Provisional Government). However, August 15th of 1948 is not a date that Republic of Korea was founded ; rather, it is the day that the Government of the Republic of Korea was established as a separate entity of South Korean governance. A resolution passed by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on December 12th, 1948 influenced the structural characteristic of South Korea’s separate government to the extent where it became a divided government. From then, the Government of Republic of Korea － which is a divided government－ was transformed into a national government; and combined with the emerging viewpoint that defined Republic of Korea as an independent sovereign nation with the only lawful government, a divided nation was born. Indeed, others that argue for the 8･15 founding date might assert that the Government of Republic of Korea is the only government deemed lawful by the UN resolution, and that this government is, in itself, the national government; thus, the Republic of Korea －a nation represented by that national government－ is the only lawful, independent, and sovereign nation in the Korean Peninsula. However, the true substance of this argument surrounds the divided government of a divided nation. This particular viewpoint that perceives Republic of Korea and its government as the only sovereign nation and lawful government in the Korean Peninsula approved by the UN effectively excludes methods of reunification other than the unilateral absorption of the North －such as one mentioned in the 1947 and 1948 UN resolutions based on ‘inclusive discussions’－ and serves to fixate the current state of division. The essence of the argument for the 8･15 founding date lies here.