Junghwan Lee

10.18399/acta.2013.16.1.007

konghwa republic Article 1 of the Constitution of South Korea the United States indirect presidential election

In the present Chinese-character cultural sphere, the term konghwa has been used as the standard translation of republic. This semantic equation raises a question, how konghwa, which originally refers to the konghwa regency in ancient China and literally means “cooperation and harmony,” came to be associated with this Western concept, which etymologically means “public thing” or “public good.” The answer to this question will also have a profound influence on our understanding of Article 1 of the constitution of South Korea, which stipulates “Taehan min’guk shall be a minju konghwaje,” a seemingly pleonastic expression, as shown in the English translation: “The ‘Republic’ of Korea shall be a democratic ‘republic.’” To address these interrelated questions, this work explores the linguistic and historical contexts of early modern Japan, China, and Korea, where the initial association was made between the words konghwa and republic, and also the period when the official name of South Korea and its constitution were initially created. In conclusion, this article provides answers to these questions by showing the close association between konghwa and the political system of the United States, particularly, the indirect voting system for its presidential election.