We investigated characteristics of the taste components in traditional Korean soybean paste. The taste components in forty samples of the soybean paste were analyzed by gas chromatography, high pressure liquid chromatography and amino acid autoanalyzer and the taste of the soybean paste was investigated by sen-sory evaluation. The relationship between the taste components and sensory score was analyzed by the method of principal component analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Characteristics of the traditional Korean soybean paste appeared to consist of sweet taste, palatable taste, saline taste, bitter taste and sour taste. They contribute to the characteristic taste with the contributing proportion of 25.97%, 17.84%, 8.58％, 7.79% and 3.12%, respectively.