This article aims to look at the extent to which the practices of governance are compatible with the substance of sustainable development (SD) in terms of governance for SD (GoSD) in South Korea. In accordance with the primary principles and criteria for GoSD, this paper explores the contradiction between the “procedure-orientation” and “substance-orientation” that appear to have been embedded in the formulation processes of the National Strategy for SD and the Framework Act on SD. This study found that one of the underlying causes that brought about the contradiction was the lack of consensus on the authority of governance as far as the extent of power or authority that should be given to governance. In short, it reveals that accepted conventions regarding the nature of the relationship between governance and SD are ill-founded and that the process is in fact imbued with contradictions and tensions.