The association between apolipoprotein E (apoE) gene polymorphism and ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICVD) has been controversial. These controversies may be due to inaccurate classification of patients and ethnic differences. The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between apoE gene polymorphism and the development of ICVD in a population from Korea. We investigated 136 patients with ICVD and 357 controls without ICVD. No differences in the apoE genotypes frequencies ($X^{2}$ = 3.660, df = 5, P = 0.454) and even in the alleles frequencies ($X^{2}$ = 1.946, df = 2, P = 0.378) were observed in the ICVD patients compared with that in controls. The data have been compared with data found in other population groups. However, the risk of ICVD associated with apoE ${varepsilon}3/{varepsilon}4$ genotype was increased nearly 3-fold in subjects possessing the history of diabetes mellitus (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.2-9.4, P = 0.026). We concluded that the apoE polymorphism is not associated with ICVD at least in the Korean population, but the apoE frequencies found in this study differ significantly from those obtained in Japanese.