The nationwide struggle for democratization in June 1987 is significant for its role in the introduction and consolidation of democratization in Korea. When the liberal parties took power under the Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jae-in governments, democratic reforms progressed. However, when conservative parties took power under the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye governments, democratic reforms were blocked or regressed. Meanwhile, the emergence of the IMF foreign exchange crisis in 1997 became a decisive turning point for the full-scale neoliberal restructuring of Korean society, and the resulting overlap of democratization and liberalization (characterized by neoliberalization) gave rise to (from the perspective of substantive democracy) a hollow variety of formal-procedural democracy. This formal-procedural democracy became a mechanism for the emergence of a ‘neoliberal police state’ which prioritizes the exercise of public power in response to resistance from workers and grassroots movements who seek to protect their rights. This chapter aims to clarify why the overlap of democratization and liberalization had these effects, and how the process unfolded under liberal and conservative governments.