Pain management of postoperative patients or patients suffering from terminal cancer became one of the most important task of nurses in recent years. This study analyzed basic knowledge of 175 student nurses in Taegu on the pain assessment and management. The questionnaires included five areas : Assessment, pharmacological actions, medication, classification of opioids, and psychological dependence of analgesics. The results indicated that nursing students, in general, lacked knowledge on pain management : Correct responses on pain assessment varied between 9.7 and 100% , classification of opioids was in ranges of 61.7 to 95.4% ; Pharmacological actions was 16.6 to 80% : and medication was 14.9 to 85.7%. Less than 12.6% of students correctly identified the frequency of psychological dependence. These results suggested that the need of reinforcement on the pain management in formal nursing education.