President for Life

South Korean President Chung Hee Park, 55, last week moved to make himself his country's permanent dictator. In a series of constitutional amendments, which will be submitted to a national referendum later this month, Park proposed several sweeping changes that will enable him to perpetuate his rule as long as he chooses. The move came one week after Park proclaimed martial law, dissolved the National Assembly, outlawed political activities by other parties, imposed tight military censorship, and shut down the universities, the source of his most vocal and persistent opposition.

"We have always attempted awkwardly to imitate closely the democratic institutions of others," Park declared in introducing the amendments last week. "We can no longer sit idle while wasting our precious national power in imitating the systems of others." He added that the revised constitution "guarantees maximum efficiency in regimenting national strength."

It certainly does that. In fact, it provides all the power that any dictator could desire. Under Park's new system, the President will be named by a newly created National Conference for Unification consisting of 2,000 to 5,000 deputies--presumably hand-picked--chosen by small administrative units throughout the nation. There will be no limits on the President's term of office, such as the one embodied in the present constitution that would have required Park to step down in 1975. One-third of the National Assembly, moreover, will be appointed by the President; these, along with his own party's members, will virtually assure him of a majority at all times. The rest of the National Assembly will be elected by popular vote.

As if all this were not enough, Park's proposed amendments give him the power to dissolve the National Assembly, a prerogative denied the President under the present constitution--though he did, just two weeks ago. He will also be able to declare emergency measures "to temporarily restrict civil liberties" when he deems such action necessary--thus ratifying emergency powers he had already taken last December.

The new constitution may give Park as much power as North Korea's Premier Kim II Sung has, but it throws a serious snag into prospects for reunification. The two governments have been holding preliminary negotiations since May, but Park did not change the present constitutional article defining South Korea's territory as the whole Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands--thus encompassing North Korea as well. Last week Pyongyang announced that North Korea's constitution was also being revised "to legally solidify socialist achievements."

Aside from a stiff note of disapproval, Washington has given no indication that it intends to cut off the $240 million in aid slotted for South Korea this year. Within South Korea itself, the opposition seems, at least temporarily, to be lying low; some have expressed fears that Park might carry out a purge. Economic dissatisfaction is widespread, however, and Park may find it easier to become a dictator than to remain one for as long as he evidently intends.

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