‘6‧29 선언’의 헌정사적 평가

The Constitutional History Evaluation on ‘June 29 Declaration’

6·29 선언은 6월 시민항쟁 기간인 6월 29일에 당시 집권당인 민주정의당 대표인 노태우가 국민들의 직선제 개헌요구 등을 받아들여 발표한 특별 선언을 말한다. 6ㆍ29선언은 대규모 대중 참여의 국민적 저항에 직면하여 군 투입을 포기할 수밖에 없었던 전두환을 정점으로 한 집권독재세력의 불가피한 선택이었지만, 동시에 그것은 민주화세력을 분열시켜 독재세력유지를 위한 생존연장술이었다. 한국헌정에서 6월 시민항쟁 과정의 중요한 위치를 차지하고 있는 6ㆍ29선언의 핵심이라 할 수 있는 직선제 개헌의 주장 즉, 누가 먼저 직선제를 받아들이기로 했는지를 두고 당시 권력의 정점(頂点)에 있던 대통령 전두환, 2인자이며 집권여당 대통령 후보였던 노태우 등 당사자들의 주장이 상반되고 있다. 전두환 정권은 국민적 저항에 직면하여 6ㆍ29선언이라는 형태로 민주연합의 핵심적 요구를 수용하는 정치적 양보를 하게 되었고, 야권의 핵심적 지도자들은 정권의 즉각 퇴진을 수반하지 않는 6ㆍ29선언을 받아들임으로써 민주화의 대타협을 하게 되었다. 따라서 6ㆍ29선언은 이러한 일련의 과정에서 장수헌법 탄생의 한 계기가 되었다. 6월 시민항쟁은 한국헌정과정에서 중요한 분수령이었으며 현행헌법 탄생의 산모(産母)였다. 본 논문은 6월 시민항쟁과정에서 나온 6ㆍ29선언의 내용과 상반되고 있는 선언주체 등에 대하여 헌정사적으로 정리ㆍ평가하고자 한다.

June 29 Declaration was a special speech on June 29, 1987, by Roh Tae-woo, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Justice Party at that time, accepting the request for the amendment of the constitution to provide for the direct election of the president. It happened during the time of the June Democratic Struggle. June 29 Declaration consisted of 8 points including amending the constitution for the direct election of the president, peaceful handover of power, revising the presidential election law, granting amnesty to Kim Dae-jung, and releasing political prisoners, and strengthening basic human rights in the bill for the constitutional amendment. June 29 Declaration was an unavoidable choice of the ruling dictatorship centering on Chun Doo-hwan who had to give up using military forces against the national massive protest. It was at the same time a survival extension strategy to maintain dictatorship by disuniting pro-democracy protestors. Regarding the proposal of amending the constitution for the direct election of the president, which was the core issue of the June 29 Declaration, the arguments are contradictory between Chun Doo-hwan who was at the peak of the power as the President then, and Roh Tae-woo who was the 2nd in power and presidential candidate of the ruling party. Notwithstanding the limitations of the amendment of the constitution in 1987, the current constitution is the longest-survived constitution in Korean constitutional history. In the face of national resistance, the Chun Doo-hwan regime made a political concession in the form of the June 29 Declaration to accommodate the core demands of the Democratization Alliance, and key opposition leaders accepted the June 29 Declaration, which did not entail the immediate resignation of the regime. Accordingly, the June 29 Declaration became an opportunity for the birth of the longest-survived constitution in this series of processes. This paper intends to summarize and evaluate the contents of the June 29 Declaration, which came out in the course of the June Citizens Struggle, and the opposing subjects, etc., in terms of constitutional history.