Abstract
The purpose of this article is to review the 4-rivers renewal project(hereinafter the 4-rivers project) in light of the principle of representative democracy. President has a direct democratic legitimacy to be conferred from election by the people, so do assembly and Parliament as their aggregate body as well. President as the Chief of the Executive shall exercise its power according to lawful process as required by a pertinent legislation. The 4-rivers project which President Lee government is pushing on could have impacts on the economy as well as the environment, since it needs a startling amount of working expenses amounting to 22 trillions though roughly estimated. Therefore, the 4-rivers project must have been scrutinized from the angle of soundness in terms of economy and environmentality, but Lee government have revised the Executive Decree for executing the Act that requires the Government to undertake the preliminary review of economical feasibility(hereinafter PREF) in prior to putting hands on the project with a view to avoiding the PREF. Furthermore, Lee government would intend to finish environmental impact assessment(hereinafter EIA) rather loosely than thoroughly. PREF and EIA are system to facilitate and elevate the reasonableness of a particular desion-making, and so to perform PREF and EEA adequately is a mandate given to the Executive by the Parliament. Accordingly, the 4-rivers project has to be revisited from a standpoint of representative democracy which has been established on the ground of 'Check and Balance' between the Executive and the Parliament.