A taxonomic study was carried out on two strains that came from kimchi, a traditional Korean fermented-vegetable food. The DNA G+C content of these strains was 37 mol %. Both strains contained Lys-Ala-Ser in the cell walls. On the basis of morphological, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics, together with data from 16S rDNA sequence comparisons and DNA-DNA reassociation, it is proposed that these strains represent a novel species of the genus Weissella, Weissella koreensis sp. nov. The type strain is strain S-5623T (= KCTC 3621T KCCM 41516T = JCM 11263T).