The purpose of this study was to identify some anthropometric characteristics related to the incidence of diabetes mellitus in Korea. The subjects were 165 male and female patients aged 30 to 70 years who had been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus for less than five year, recruied from eight different hospitals in Seoul, Korea. Weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference and triceps skinfold thickness were measured. Weight before diagnosis of diabetes was also surveyed. The body mass index(BMI) of diabetic patients before diabetic diagnosis was significantly higher than that of reference values. Fifty percent of patients had BMI values greater than 25kg/$m^2$, and female patients were somewhat fatter than male patients. Since many subjects were overweight before diagnosis, obestty could be regarded as a risk factor for the incidence of diabetes mellitus. However, waist-hip ratios(WHR) fell within the normal range, so WHR may not be regarded as an important risk factor for NIDDM in Korea. This study suggests that the risk factors of onset of diabetes in Western populations may not be applicable to the Korea population. More study is needed to clarify the risk factors of Korean diabetes.