Phytoplankton community in the coastal waters off the northeastern Korean Peninsula were characterized from May 2002 to August 2003. Taxonomic composition, abundance and biomass were determined at two water depths at 10 sample sites. A total of 153 phytoplankton species including 121 diatoms, 28 dinoflagellates, 7 green algae and 7 other species were identified. The mean abundance of phytoplankton varied from 15 to 430 cells mL?1 in the surface layer and from 11 to 545 cells mL?1 in the bottom layer, respectively. Phytoplankton was more abundant in coastal stations relative to those in more open ocean. The most dominant species were marine diatoms such as Thalassionema nitzschioides, Licmorphora abbreviata, Chaetoceros affinis and Chaetoceros socialis. In addition, a few limnotic diatoms including Fragilaria capucina v. rumpens, the green alga Scenedesmus dimorphus, some marine dinoflagellates and Cryptomonas sp. appeared as dominant species. Mean concentration of total chlorophyll-a varied from 0.22 to 7.87 μg chl-a L?1 and from 0.45 to 6.79 μg chl-a L?1 in the surface and bottom layers, respectively. The contribution of phytoplankton each size-fractionated varied highly with season. The contribution of microphytoplankton to total biomass of phytoplankton in the surface and bottom layer was high in February and August 2003, and that of nano-phytoplankton was high in May 2002 in both surface and bottom layers.