ident under Article 66(2) and Article 66(3) of the Constitution. The 'obligation to abide by and protect the Constitution' of the President set forth in Articles 66(2) and 69 of the Constitution is the constitutional manifestation that specifies the constitutional principle of government by the rule of law in relation to the President's performance of official duties. Expressed only in summary, the fundamental element of the principle of the rule of law, which is a basic constitutional principle, is that any and all operation of the state shall be by the 'Constitution' and the 'statutes' enacted by the legislature consisting of the representatives of the people and that any and all exercise of the state authority shall be the object of the judicial control in the form of administrative adjudication for the executive function and constitutional adjudication for the legislative function. Accordingly, the legislature is bound by the constitution, and the executive and the judicial branches of the government implementing and applying the law, respectively, are bound by the Constitution and the statutes. Therefore, the President, as the chief of the executive branch, is constitutionally mandated to respect and abide by the constitution and the statutes. While the 'obligation to abide by and protect the Constitution' is a norm derived from the principle of government by the rule of law, the Constitution repeatedly emphasizes such obligation of the President in Articles 66(2) and 69, considering the significance of the status of the President as the head of the state and the chief of the executive branch. Under the spirit of the Constitution as such, the President is the 'symbolic existence personifying the rule of law and the observance of law' toward the entire public. Accordingly, the President should not only make every possible effort to protect and realize the Constitution, but also abide by the law and perform no act in violation of any of the valid law. Furthermore, the President should do all acts in order to implement the objective will of the legislator. The obligation of the executive branch of the government to respect and implement the law is equally applicable to the statutes that the executive branch deems unconstitutional. Since the Constitutional Court alone is vested with the authority under the Constitution to remove a statute that is unconstitutional, even if the executive branch suspects a particular statute to be unconstitutional, the executive branch should make every possible effort to respect and implement the law unless and until the Constitutional Court holds such statute unconstitutional. - 184 -