In recent years, the retreat of democracy has become a global phenomenon. Democracy can be defined as popular control over public decision-making procedure and equality between citizens in the exercise of that control. Korea is no exception to the regression of democracy. Professor Nam-Kook Kim defines that the challenges to democracy facing Korea come from two directions, one being populism and the other being technocracy. Democracy is a narrow path of possibility that requires our patience between these two paths: technocracy monopolizing power by the minority and populism usurping power by mobilizing the majority. Korean democracy has oscillated between the two extremes of populist resistance and technocratic oligarchy, and currently appears to be in a phase where the influence of technocracy is stronger. For democracy to survive, two factors are important: institutional design to reflect people’s will and the role of citizens within that design. In reality, however, institutional change is not easy because of path dependency, the role of citizens becomes a more important variable out of the narrow path between populism and technocracy.