Reform Goes Nowhere

Two years have passed since former President Park Geun-hye was ousted from power for her involvement in a massive power abuse and corruption scandal. On March 10, 2017, the Constitutional Court approved Park's impeachment which passed through the National Assembly in December 2016.

The unprecedented presidential impeachment has left a painful lesson for Koreans. It was a clear manifestation of the people's aspirations for democracy. Park's ouster could not have been possible had it not been for massive candlelit rallies against her and her government.

Marking the second anniversary of the impeachment ruling, we need to shed light on what changes the "Candlelit Revolution" has brought to the country. Most of all, Park's fall has restored the democratic system. No one can tolerate her abuse of power, which was in blatant disregard for the Constitution and the law.

The people elected Moon Jae-in, a liberal opposition politician, as their new leader in the May 2017 poll. President Moon has promised to change the nation's governance structure in a bid to stop power abuse, corruption and influence peddling.

At the core of his reform commitment is revising the Constitution to prevent a president from monopolizing power ? a root cause of corruption and power abuse as seen in the cases of most former presidents.

President Moon strongly pushed for the constitutional amendment in his first year in office. However, his plan appears to have fizzled due to wide differences between the ruling and opposition parties about how to change the power structure. Simply put, narrow-minded partisanship and political bickering have derailed Moon's efforts to decentralize power.

President...