건국헌법과 이승만의 조국통일론

Syngman Rhee's doctrine of fatherland reunification has two main trends. One was the “doctrine of peaceful unification”(hereafter abbreviated as DOPU) and the other was “doctrine of unification of the two Koreas through northward movement”(hereafter abbreviated as DOUTKTNM). However, the former doctrine on the basis of unification by the general election all over the two Koreas were dominant to the end, and the latter doctrine was strongly suggested as a political gesture to respond to the arguments for inter-Korean negotiations and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea that emerged at the time. The latter argument also served to enhance or supplement the legitimacy of the DOPU. The DOPU was based on the Territory Clause(Article 4) of the 1948 constitution for founding the ROK and the theory of defensive democracy. It is also in harmony with UN General Assembly Resolution 112(II) adopted in November 1947. In this respect, Syngman Rhee's plan for inter-Korean unification was based on respect for the rule of law and cooperation with the United Nations. In addition, his doctrine of fatherland unification was based on solid security. Syngman Rhee enacted the National Security Law for “system security” in 1948 and signed the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty in 1953, which institutionalized the ROK-US military alliance for “military security.” The idea of unification by the general election all over the two Koreas, which forms the main frame of the DOPU, had made a profound influence on the establishment of the present official unification formula of the South Korean government. It served as the groundwork for the procedure for establishing a unified state proposed in the “Korean National Community Unification Formula” of 1994. All of ROK's official national unification proposals including Syngman Rhee's DOPU, adopt liberal democracy as a unification philosophy. Therefore, it cannot be harmonized with the North Korea's proposal for unification by federation scheme that presupposes ‘recognition and respect for ideas and institutions.’ This is because North Korea's federation proposal is nothing more than a disguised and peaceful unification offensive. I think, the ROK government and the South Korean people need to reconsider Syngman Rhee's DOPU and find implications from it. In addition, a unification and security policy suitable for the reality of inter-Korean relations must be prepared and consistently implemented.