The ablation effects of Ar-plasma treatment and alkali-decomposition behavior in NaOH solution of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film were investigated. The modifications were evaluated by analysis of atomic force microscopy topographical changes, and by the measurement of decomposition yield in conjunction with heats of formation and electron densities of acyl carbon calculated by Parameterization Method 3 method. It has shown that the alkali-decomposition is hampered by plasma treatment and its decomposition yield is closely related with plasma treatment conditions such as exposure time to plasma. Plasma-treated PET films exhibited lower decomposition yield, compared to that of virgin PET. Increasing plasma exposure time contributes positively to decrease the decomposition yield. It has also shown that the topography of PET surface was affected by the base-promoted hydrolysis as well as Ar-plasma treatments. These behaviors are attributed to the decreased nucleophilicity of acyl carbon damaged by the ablation of Ar-plasma.