An optical sensing approach based on diffuse reflectance has shown potential for rapid and reliable on-site estimation of soil properties. Important sensing ranges and the resulting regression models useful for soil property estimation have been reported. In this study, a similar approach was applied to investigate the potential of reflectance sensing in estimating soil properties for Korean paddy fields. Soil cores up to a 65-cm depth were collected from 42 paddy fields representing 14 distinct soil series that account for 74% of the total Korean paddy field area. These were analyzed in the laboratory for several important physical and chemical properties. Using air-dried, sieved soil samples, reflectance data were obtained from 350 to 2500 nm on a 3 nm sampling interval with a laboratory spectrometer. Calibrations were developed using partial least squares (PLS) regression, and wavelength bands important for estimating the measured soil properties were identified. PLS regression provided good estimations of Mg ($R^2$ = 0.80), Ca ($R^2$ = 0.77), and total C ($R^2$ = 0.92); fair estimations of pH, EC, $P_2O_5$, K, Na, sand, silt, and clay ($R^2$ = 0.59 to 0.72); and poor estimation of total N. Many wavelengths selected for estimation of the soil properties were identical or similar for multiple soil properties. More important wavelengths were selected in the visible-short NIR range (350-1000 nm) and the long NIR range (1800-2500 nm) than in the intermediate NIR range (1000-1800 nm). These results will be useful for design and application of in-situ close range sensors for paddy field soil properties.