This paper assesses South Korean development from the vantage point of economic democracy. By embarking on export-oriented industrialization policy in the 1960s, the Korean state fostered capital concentration and repressed labor demands. After two decades of economic authoritarianism, political democratization in the late 1980s offers a brighter prospect for the democratization of the economy. Nonetheless, the prospect remains imperiled by the consequences of past policy. © 1991, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.