Constitution of Menghe

The Constitution of Menghe is the supreme law of Menghe. The present version of the constitution was adopted in 1990 in the wake of the Decembrist Revolution and heavily amended in 2022 as part of a package of democratic reforms introduced in the wake of the Second Pan-Septentrion War.

History

On 21 December 1987, Choe Sŭng-min seized power in the Decembrist Revolution, which despite its name more closely resembled a military coup. For the first few months after the revolution, Choe led the country through the Interim Council for National Restoration, an ad-hoc military junta made up of high-ranking officers in the Menghean Army and some civilian collaborators. The Socialist Republic of Menghe was formally proclaimed on 25 May 1988, but for the first two years of its existence, it lacked a written constitution.

The current Menghean constitution was promulgated on 1 June 1990, slightly more than two years after the Socialist Republic of Menghe was established. Its original text reflected the reformist direction of the early post-coup regime, with relatively generous guarantees of citizens' rights and freedoms and a nominally democratic character. Over the course of the 1990s and 2000s, however, it was steadily revised to place a greater emphasis on the Menghean Socialist Party and Choe Sŭng-min's cult of personality.

Since then, the Menghean constitution has been repeatedly amended to reflect the changing nature of Menghean politics.

Former constitutions

Namyang Constitution

This document was promulgated in 1878, during Menghe's Three States Period. It represented the Namyang Government's first effort to compose a Western-style constitution and thereby modernize the country. It provided for limited suffrage among landowners and educated elites, and guaranteed some basic rights, while vesting power in an elected assembly and a prime minister.

1904 Constitution

On 2 August 1901, the states of Namyang and Sinyi concluded a formal peace treaty, ending the Three States Period and forming the Federative Republic of Menghe. This peace treaty was accompanied by the Articles of Federation, which provided a provisional institutional framework for Menghe's new federal system of government.

In 1904, the Federal Assembly formally ratified a permanent constitution. This document guaranteed a similar package of rights as the Namyang Constitution, including suffrage for landowners and educated persons, basic political freedoms, and the abolition of aristocratic privileges. In accordance with the treaty signed three years earlier, the 1904 Constitution officially recognized the Emperor as Menghe's head of state, but relegated him to a purely ceremonial position, conferring actual political power on the Prime Minister, who served as head of government.

A major amendment to the Federal Constitution was passed in 1920, extending the vote to all mentally sound male citizens over the age of 25.

Imperial Charter

After Kwon Chong-hoon seized power via a military coup on 8 February 1927, his provisional government drew up the Imperial Charter, which served as the supreme law of the Greater Menghean Empire. This document vested supreme political power in the Emperor, but established a Council of Ministers led by a Premier to advise the Emperor and implement his directives. It abolished the Federal Assembly and the various Regional Assemblies, and stated that all local executive offices would be filled via appointment, thereby ending even symbolic democracy in Menghe. It also ended Menghe's federative system, replacing it with a much more centralized unitary system of government.

Under Kwon Chong-hoon, who was appointed Premier by the Yŏngtong Emperor in a show of legitimation, the Premier was the main locus of political power in practice, with the Emperor remaining largely symbolic. After Kim Myŏng-hwan ascended to the throne in 1933, tensions between the Premier and the Emperor steadily escalated, culminating in Kwon's deposition in 1937. Kim Myŏng-hwan appointed a new Premier as replacement, but from that point onward he exercised primary political authority in Menghe. The Imperial Charter, however, was never amended after Kim Myŏng-hwan's self-coup, as the balance of political power at the top depended on practical political influence rather than the rule of law.

1953 Constitution

The 1953 Constitution was ratified by the Republic of Menghe on the day of its formation. It had been drawn up with the help of Anglian occupation officials, and reflected Anglian legal influence, restoring a parliamentary and federal system of government with provinces rather than regions as the primary federal unit (though nominally the country remained the Republic of Menghe, rather than the Second Federative Republic of Menghe). It guaranteed a wider range of freedoms than the 1904 Constitution, including universal adult suffrage for all mentally sound citizens over the age of 20, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly. Article 11 of the 1953 Constitution, however, created a major loophole in these guarantees, giving the government the legal authority to prosecute anyone found guilty of aiding violent groups or spreading seditious material. This Article was amended in 1955 to formally ban Communism, Socialism, and Socialist-aligned movements. This reflected the interests of both the Republic of Menghe government and its foreign advisors, who were still engaged in the Continuation War against communist and nationalist guerrilla forces.

1971 Constitution

For the first few years after the end of the Menghean War of Liberation, the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe functioned without a formal written constitution, with the Menghean People's Communist Party instead ruling by decree and organizing ad-hoc single-party elections. Work on a new constitution was already underway in 1968, but it was postponed in 1969 when General Secretary Sun Tae-jun died without nominating a clear successor.

The draft constitution was only finalized and ratified on 8 May 1971, five months after Sim Jin-hwan came to power as General Secretary. On paper, it guaranteed a wider range of rights than any of Menghe's previous constitutions, including full gender equality, freedom of religion, and a wide range of social and economic rights. In practice, however, many of these rights had little meaning in practice: despite official declarations that Menghe was a democratic people's republic with full political freedoms, in practice the MPCP forbade opposition candidates from running in elections and routinely arreted and tortured dissidents. Sim's administration did, however, generally follow the 1971 Constitution's provisions on the institutional structure of higher government, which included the Assembly of People's Representatives, a formal legislature, and the State Council, a parallel body to the Politburo of the MPCP.

Organizationally, the 1971 Constitution established a unitary system of government, though as part of its guarantee to Menghe's ethnic minorities, it did provide for the creation of six Autonomous Provinces for the country's regional ethnic minority groups. These replaced the Autonomous Regions which had governed those areas from 1964 to 1971.

Structure

Preamble

The preamble to the Menghean constitution tells a simplified and stylized narrative of Menghean history, leading from ancient times up to the present, with a focus on the 20th century. The preamble does not enjoy official legal status, and contains no legally binding provisions. It does, however, represent an officially-sanctioned telling of Menghe's modern history, as authorized by the Menghean Socialist Party. Notable elements include the following:

• Menghe's imperial dynasties, regarded by the 1970 Constitution as "backwards feudal regimes," are presented as the glorious forerunners of Menghean civilization.
• After reaching its peak under the Yi dynasty, Menghe fell into decline following the Menghean Black Plague and foreign encroachment, and is now embarking on a road to national rejuvenation under the leadership of the present government.
• The Greater Menghean Empire was justified in its goal of "breaking the shackles of Western imperialism," but unjustified in attempting to do so by force and without a rational or pragmatic foreign policy. Most mistakes of this era can be attributed to Kwon Chong-hoon, whereas Kim Myŏng-hwan ruled correctly but lost the war due to mistakes inherited from the Kwon cabinet.
• Likewise, the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe was justified in once again liberating Menghe from foreign influence, addressing inequality, and pursuing modernization, but it failed due to a lack of rational and pragmatic economic policy. More specifically, the founding General-Secretary Sun Tae-jun and his major successor Sim Jin-hwan were generally positive but made some mistakes due to ideological rigidity, whereas Ryŏ Ho-jun's legacy was entirely negative.
• The legacy of the Menghean Socialist Party under Choe Sŭng-min was entirely positive. The MSP's accomplishments include accelerating development through economic reforms, modernizing the Armed Forces, and normalizing relations with other great powers. Nonetheless, "certain individuals in the Party committed errors of judgment," an indirect criticism of Kang Yong-nam and the militarist faction, but also a vague self-criticism intended to absolve the MSP of responsibility for its authoritarian ruling methods.

Guiding Principles (Chapter 1)

This section, unlike the preamble, is legally binding, and lays the ideological groundwork for the Menghean government. It declares that Menghe's current government is a Socialist Republic (sahoejuyi gonghwaguk), but it contains no references to communism (gongsanjuyi) or Marxism, or to Marxist theory in general. It does not, however, ban Marxism outright. The original 1990 text also declared that Menghe's new governing system would be based on the principles of democracy (minju) and popular sovereignty (minbon), and these clauses were neither amended nor removed in the decades that followed.

Article 2.5, added by amendment in 1998, states that the Socialist Republic of Menghe is guided by the spirit of Decembrism and founded on the ideology of Choe Sŭng-min Thought. These clauses were not removed in the 2022 amendment package, though the 2022 amendments did de-emphasize the Guiding Principles section in general.

Following the 2022 amendments, neither Chapter 1 nor Chapter 3 contain any references to the Menghean Socialist Party, and the preamble only discusses the MSP from a historical point of view. Thus, Menghe is no longer officially a one-party state, though in practice the MSP retains a large majority in the legislature.

Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 of the Menghean Constitution guarantees citizens' civil and political rights; their economic, social and cultural rights; and their duties and obligations vis-a-vis the state. Notably, even as Menghe's de facto state of governance grew more and less authoritarian, these provisions mostly stayed in place on paper.

Civil and political rights:

• Article 31: All citizens of Menghe are equal before the law, regardless of sex, ethnicity, religion, occupation, education, or family background.
• Article 32: All citizens who reach a standard age of 19 are eligible to vote in elections, except where disenfranchised in accordance with the civil code.
• Article 33: All citizens who reach a standard age of 30 are eligible to run for public office, except where disqualified in accordance with the election code.
• Article 34: Guarantees freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, and of demonstration.
• Article 35: Guarantees freedom of religion, including the freedom to not practice religion, provided that religious practices do not harm the health and well-being of citizens.
• Article 36: Guarantees the freedom to take part in traditional cultural practices, including nomadic movement, the observance of ethnic and religious holidays, the wearing of recognized minority clothing and hairstyles, and abstention from forbidden food and drink.
• Article 37: Guarantees the right to criticize government institutions through the appropriate legal channels, whether by presenting suggestions, submitting complaints, or engaging in lawsuits against state organs.

Social rights:

• Article 38: Endorses the right to an adequate standard of living.
• Article 39: Endorses the right to work, including the right to choose one's place of employment, terminate one's employment, and receive compensation for one's employment. This article does not actually guarantee employment to all citizens, though it does ask that policymakers take reasonable measures to provide employment opportunities through sound economic policy and vocational training.
• Article 40: Prohibits child labor. More specifically, prohibits children below the standard age of 17 from engaging in paid employment, though it permits children ages 14-17 to engage in cultural, artistic, or ceremonial work, as well as vocational training programs, provided that the work is not harmful or dangerous.
• Article 42: Guarantees state-backed and society-backed welfare and support for persons who are retired or unable to work.
• Article 43: Guarantees a right to housing for all citizens, and obliges the state to provide public housing where the supply of affordable private housing is inadequate.
• Article 44: Guarantees equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex, ethnicity, or residence status.
• Article 45: Defines a marriage as a legal contract between one man and one woman, guarantees a right of both partners to seek divorce, and reviews cultural and social obligations surrounding childcare and caring for elders.
• Article 48: Guarantees a right to education for all citizens, and abolishes school fees for the first eight years of schooling. Also calls upon the state to provide quality educational facilities beyond the mandatory eight-year period, though these are not guaranteed for all citizens.

Duties and obligations:

• Article 49: Beginning from the standard age of seven, all citizens must attend at least eight years of schooling at accredited institutions.
• Article 50: Citizens are forbidden from engaging in activities that destroy public or private property, undermine national unity, incite ethnic or religious hatred, support secessionist movements, aid and abet foreign activities against Menghe, or infringe upon the rights and liberties of other citizens. This article takes precedence over other articles guaranteeing civil and political rights; i.e., speech in support of secessionist movements is not protected.
• Article 51: The state may call upon all able-bodied male citizens between the standard ages of 19 and 40 to complete mandatory military service.
• Article 52: During a state of emergency, the state may call upon all able-bodied citizens over the standard age of 17 to take part in relief and support efforts, with or without compensation.
• Article 53: Menghean citizens must promptly report suspicious activities to the state, and must collaborate with the authorities when asked to turn over information which they already possess, if the investigation relates to national security or foreign espionage activities. Except in a state of emergency, as governed by Article 52, citizens are not obligated to collect new information on behalf of the state.
• Article 54: All citizens must pay taxes to the central government and to any relevant local governments in accordance with taxation laws.

Basic Structure of the State (Chapter 3)

In its current form (i.e., after the 2022 amendments), the constitution states that Menghe is a unitary state with a parliamentary system of government. The Prime Minister is elected by the National Assembly from among its members, and serves as both head of state and head of government. The Prime Minister then appoints other ministers and outside nominees to the State Council of Menghe, Menghe's cabinet, which replaced the Choe-era Supreme Council of Menghe.

Menghe has a unique bicameral legislature inherited from the Choe Sŭng-min era. The lower house, known as the National Social Consultative Conference, has over 2,000 members and convenes once a year for three weeks in July and passes a strictly advisory resolution with no binding legal authority. Members of the NSCC, known as delegates, are also elected according to a different set of rules, and represent officially-recognized social interest groups and peak associations rather than political parties. The upper house, known as the National Assembly, has 278 seats and meets year-round. Its members, known as representatives, are elected from single-member districts in first-past-the-post elections and represent political parties. Because the National Assembly is the only legislative body with actual lawmaking power, and because it elects the Prime Minister from among its members, some political scholars consider Menghe to be a unicameral state with the NSCC functioning as a quasi-independent advisory body; at a minimum, Menghe's legislative system is an example of imperfect bicameralism, with the upper house able to overrule the lower house.

National Symbols (Chapter 4)

Article 132 declares that Donggyŏng is the capital city of Menghe, and requires that the National Assembly, the State Council (formerly the Supreme Council), the NSCC, and the Supreme People's Court must hold their regular meetings within Donggyŏng's administrative boundaries. It also designates Donggwangsan Palace as the office and official residence of the Prime Minister. Article 132.4 permits the central government to relocate its operations to a provisional capital in the event that a war, threat of war, natural disaster, civil unrest, or other emergency should render Donggyŏng unfit for national leaders to safely execute their duties.

Article 135 defines the Suk Star Flag as the flag of Menghe. This flag was previously adopted by decree on 17 May 1988, but lacked formal constitutional recognition. Article 135.2 forbids both state agencies and private individuals from using any other flag to represent the present governmetn of Menghe, though the relevant clause only entered into effect on 1 January 1992. This ended the informal practice, necessitated by a shortage of new flags and the delay in passing a new flag law, of using the Flag of the Menghean Armed Forces as an interim or provisional flag. It also provided the legal backing for a ban on the flag of the DPRM and the flag of the Republic of Menghe, both of which were associated with controversial past regimes.

Article 137 recognizes Let Morning Shine on These Mountains and Rivers as the national anthem, or aegukga, of Menghe. The original version of Article 137 only accorded official status to the first verse, thereby dropping the then-current second verse, which had been composed in 1969 with reference to the spirit of labor, and the original second and third verses composed in 1939, which celebrated Menghe's mission to achieve victory in the Pan-Septentrion War and lead the Eastern peoples of the world to prosperity. An amendment in 1994 gave official constitutional recognition to a new second verse, which references the Decembrist spirit and the Path of National Reconstruction.

Final and Transitional Provisions (Chapter 5)

This chapter contains temporary provisions regarding the timetable on which the Menghean constitution entered into force. Many provisions, including the ban on provisional national flags, were delayed until 1 January 1992, to allow time for state organs and non-state bodies to adjust to the new regulations.

Amendments

Amendment process

The original text of the 1990 Constitution stated that amendments to the Constitution must be approved by a 3/4 majority in the National Assembly and signed by the Chairman of the Supreme Council. Though this may formally present a high threshold, the National Assembly was dominated by the Menghean Socialist Party, its coalition allies, and party-approved independent candidates until 2019, making the amendment process a formality.

The batch of amendments passed in 2022 included a revision to this clause, stating that constitutional amendment instead requires the approval of 2/3 of the National Assembly and the signautre of the Prime Minister, an office created by the same amendment to replace the Chairman of the Supreme Council. Because the Menghean Socialist Party held only 68.7% of National Assembly seats following the semi-competitive 2019 elections, this amendment required the approval of representatives from the coalitional Social Democratic Party and Labor Party, as well as independents. Because it was bundled with many democratic reforms, this amendment still reached the 3/4 threshold, even though it softened the amendment process and did not satisfy independent citizen proposals to require a nationwide referendum on future amendments.

Amendments are added to the Constitution of Menghe in a final section, following Chapter 5 on final and transitional provisions.

See also

• 2022 Menghean democratic reforms
• Government of Menghe
• Politics in Menghe