We examined Y chromosomal DNA polymorphisms at the DYS19 and DXYS5Y loci in a total of 480 unrelated male samples from the Korean population. All five common alleles were identified at the tetranucleotide microsatellite locus DYS19 in this study. The C allele was the most frequent (212/480), followed by D (136/480), B (75/480), E (36/480) and A (21/480) allele. The frequency of Y2 allele at the DXYS5Y locus was found to be 4.6% (22/480). Combining the allelic variation at these two loci resulted in a total of 9 combination haplotypes. The mean combination haplotype diversity wIns 0.72. Based on the results of these two loci, Korean and Japanese populations may share some common genetic structure that is rare or absent in the other ethnic groups. The genetic similarity between Korean and Japanese populations may be due to the large infusion of Y chromosomes through the Yayoi migration starting 2,300 years ago from Korea to Japan.