Oxidative stress by reactive oxygen species (ROS) damages cellular DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids and others causing various diseases such as cancer, arthritis, and heart diseases. 8-Hydroxyguanine (8-OHG) is one of the products formed from DNA or RNA damaged by ROS. Since high amounts of 8-OHG can be excreted in urine, it may serve as a potential biomarker indicating the level of oxidative damage to nucleic acids. Residents in industrial area with severe air pollution are expected to be affected by higher level of oxidative stress from pollutants like polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), etc. Smokers are also expected to be damaged by higher level of oxidative stress from cigarette smoke components like PAHs than non-smokers. To examine if the determination of the urinary concentration of 8-OHG could be used as exposure biomarker for the oxidative stress caused by air-pollutants, this study was performed to determine and compare the urinary concentrations of 8-OHG in smokers and non-smokers, or non-polluted area residents and polluted area residents. Urine samples were collected and purified by a strong cation exchange and cellulose partition column, then analyzed by HPLC with electrochemical detector at 600 ㎷ potential. Concentrations of urinary 8-OHG in non-smokers and smokers of Seoul area college male students were determined as 15.12$pm$9.68 (ng/mg creatinine) and 34.72$pm$11.72 (ng/mg creatinine), respectively, showing significantly higher level of 8-OHG in smokers than in non-smokers. Urine samples of elementary school students were collected from Sokcho area, which is known to be non-polluted, and 3 representative polluted areas; Yocheon industrial area, Ulsan urban and Ulsan industrial area. The concentrations of 8-OHG in these samples were 12.42$pm$8.27 (ng/ mg creatinine, Sokcho), 22.55$pm$9.12 (ng/mg creatinine, Yocheon), 17.41$pm$2.30 (ng/mg creatinine, Ulsan urban), 55.04$pm$39.73 (ng/mg creatinine, Ulsan industrial). Thus, samples from polluted area tend to have higher level of 8-OHG and the levels of Yocheon and Ulsan industrial area were significantly higher than that of Sokcho area. The results indicate that the residents of polluted industrial area or smokers are more severely exposed to oxidative stress probably caused by air pollutants like PAHs. Thus, the determination of urinary 8-OHG concentration could be used as biomarker for the extent of body exposure to oxidative stress caused by various pollutants.