Everyone on this site already knows that the ROK Constitution has seldom been interpreted strictly, to put it mildly, even in recent times. In theory, North Korea and its people are governed by the Constitution’s terms and entitled to its protections, including Article 33, for which UniFiction has had a particular blind spot.

I see no constitutional issue, provided government policy actually promotes unification. I could make a better argument that preserving the North Korean regime is contrary to Article 4, but based on my limited reading of Korean court opinions, Korean judges don’t let legal principle get in the way of political convenience.

Park Chung-hee established the National Unification Board in ’69, but it did not become a ministry until ’96. Does the President have complete control over the Executive, or does he need legislative approval to carry through all the changes the transition committees are recommending?

Do any graybeards recall how Unification morphed from Board to Ministry in ’96? I assume it would just be a matter of reversing that process.

As for the coalitional politics within the GNP you’ve described, depending upon the procedure a dedicated minority insurgency can frustrate reforms indefinitely. Roh Moo-hyun’s survival for five years is testimony to that.

Now, if your question is whether Lee MB will win in April, I’m not so sure about that. As I said at TMH, Lee now MB has bigger problems than an Uri insurgency fighting on in the Cholla Triangle. His efforts to fill the GNP candidate slate with his own cronies have royally pissed off Park Geun-Hye, and she’s thinking about splitting with him. Ordinarily, Lee Hoi Chang might not be much of a threat to Lee MB, but if Lee HC and Park GH both join forces against Lee, he could be in for a rough time.

Now, extrapolate that possibility one more step. One possibility I wouldn’t rule out is that Park GH and Lee HC regain control of the GNP — Park always had more support from GNP insiders than Lee MB did — and Lee MB breaks away and forms a center-right version of Uri. Initially, I think he’d succeed; voters tend to want to give new presidents the chance to govern.

How does LMB and the transition committees follow through with their conclusions?

If wishing made it so, you wouldn’t need a website