We studied the diversity of the halophilic archaea and bacteria in crystallizer ponds of a Korean solar saltern by analyzing 16S rRNA gene libraries. Although diverse halophilic archaeal lineages were detected, the majority (56%) were affiliated with the uncultured and cultured Halorubrum group. Halophilic archaea that have been frequently observed in solar saltern environments previously, such as Halogeometricum, Halococcus, Haloarcula, and Haloferax, were not detected in our samples. The majority of clones (53%) belonged to the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides and ${alpha}-,;{gamma}-,;and;{delta}-Proteobacteria$ groups, with 47% of the clones being affiliated with ${gamma}-Proteobacteria$. We also identified new ${delta}-Proteobacteria$-related bacteria that have not been observed in hypersaline environments previously. Our data show that the diversity of the halophilic archaea and bacteria in our Korean saltern differs from that of solar salterns found in other geographic locations. We also showed by quantitative real-time PCR analysis that bacteria can form a significant component of the microbial community in solar salterns.