the President's willingness to abide by law, even if minor, may affect the legal conscientiousness and the observance of the the public. Thus, the President's statement disrespectful of the election law cannot be deemed as a minor violation of law part of the President who bears an obligation to make all the to respect and implement the law. greatly law of current on the efforts However, the statement of the President denigrating the current election law as the 'vestige of the era of government-power- interfered election' does not constitute an affirmative violation of the current law. Instead, such statement is an act of violation of law committed during the course of reacting, in an unaggressive and passive way, towards the decision of the National Election Commission. The President, of course, may well deserve criticism as such statement was an expression of disrespectfulness toward the current law, therefore it was in violation of the President's obligation to protect the Constitution. However, considering the totality of the specific circumstance where such statement was made, such statement was made with no affirmative intent to stand against the basic order of free democracy, nor was it an act of grave violation of law fundamentally questioning the principle of the rule of law. (C) The acts of the President intending to seek sanctuary in direct democracy through directly appealing to the public by proposing a confidence referendum in the state of minority ruling party and majority opposing party rather than administering state affairs in conformity with the spirit of the presidential system and parliamentary system of the Constitution, were not only in violation of Article 72 of the Constitution, but also against the principle of the rule of law. Also, however, in this regard, the above acts of the President did not constitute an affirmative violation of law against the fundamental rules of the Constitution forming the principle of democracy and accordingly, there was no grave negative impact upon the constitutional order, considering that the President merely proposed an unconstitutional confidence referendum and did not attempt to enforce such and that the interpretation as to whether the 'important policy concerning national security' of Article 72 of the Constitution includes the issue of confidence in the President has been subject to academic debates. (3) Sub-conclusion (A) To conclude, reviewing the totality of the impact the violation of law by the President has upon the constitutional order, specific acts of violation of law by the President cannot be deemed as a threat to the basic order of free democracy since there was no affirmative intent to stand against the constitutional order therein. - 199 -