Revision of Constitution on Decentralization

This paper examines the constitutional amendment bill and proposals of the current 1987 constitutional system that has been discussed so far, focusing especially on the local autonomy. Many constitutional amendment plans have been proposed by academia and civic groups, including the Moon Jae-in government’s constitutional amendment bill. Accordingly, this paper compares and analyzes these constitutional amendment proposals and largely divide them into moderate and progressive constitutional amendment proposals. The progressive constitutional amendment proposals aim for a decentralized state. However, there is a concern that a decentralized state can easily be confused with a state in a federal country. It is necessary to strengthen local autonomy in a unitary country while at the same time clarifying the limits of local autonomy in a single nation. In conclusion, this paper suggests constitutional amendment that can maximize local autonomy in the single state of the Republic of Korea. Local governments’ right to self-organization and self-financing should be secured. To this end, the right to self-legislation is recognized within the scope of the law.