10. The President's acts denigrating the current law as the 'vestige of the era of the government-power-interfered elections' and publicly questioning the constitutionality and the legitimacy of the statute from his status as the President do not conform to the obligation to abide by and protect the Constitution and statutes. The President, of course, may express his or her own position and belief regarding the direction for revising the current statute as a political figure. However, it is of great importance that in which circumstances and in which relations such discussions on possible statutory revisions take place. The President's statements denigrating the current election statutes made as a response to and in the context of the National Election Commission's warning for the president's violation of such election statutes cannot be deemed as an attitude showing respect for the law. The statements as such made by the President, who should serve as a good example for all public officials, might have significantly negative influence on the realization of a government by the rule of law, by gravely affecting the other public officials obligated to respect and abide by the law and, further, by lowering the public's awareness to abide by the law. To conclude, the act of the President questioning the legitimacy and the normative power of the current statute in front of the public is against the principle of government by the rule of law and is in violation of the obligation to protect the Constitution. 11. The national referendum is a means to realize direct democracy, and its object or subject matter is the 'decision on issues,' that is, specific state policies or legislative bills. Therefore, by the own nature of the national referendum, the 'confidence the public has in its representative' cannot be a subject matter for a national referendum and the decision of and the confidence in the representative under our Constitution may be performed and manifested solely through elections. The President's suggestion to hold a national referendum on whether he should remain in office is an unconstitutional exercise of the President's authority to institute a national referendum delegated by Article 72 of the Constitution, and thus it is in violation of the constitutional obligation not to abuse the mechanism of the national referendum as a political tool to fortify his own political position. Although the President merely suggested an unconstitutional national referendum on the people's confidence and did not yet actually institute such referendum, the suggestion toward the public of a national confidence referendum1), which is not permitted under the Constitution, 1) A national confidence referendum is a national referendum through which the President asks voters to decide whether the President should remain in office. (translator's note) - 146 -