In order to elucidate the relationships between cadmium, copper, mercury, zinc levels and metallothionein in the liver and kidney cortex of Korean, the levels of Cd, Zn, Hg, Cu and metallothionein (MT) were determined in the kidney cortex and liver of 50 subjects deceased in the period of January-November, 2001 in the area of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province of Korea. The mean age of the population studied was 36.3+/-12.3 years. The tissues were digested with microwave digestion system and the elements were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. MT was determined by the Cd-hemoglobin affinity assay. The determined levels (mean+/-SD) were: 33.9+/-18.9 micrograms Cd/g wet weight; 47.5+/-12.6 micrograms Zn/g wet weight; 2.5+/-0.57 microgram Cu/g wet weight; 0.26+/-0.31 micrograms Hg/g wet weight, 4.0+/-3.1 mg MT/g wet weight in renal cortex and 2.5+/-1.9 micrograms Cd/g wet weight; 46.9+/-15.0 micrograms Zn/g wet weight; 6.2+/-2.5 micrograms Cu/g wet weight; 0.10+/-0.15 micrograms Hg/g wet weight, 0.92+/-0.57 mg MT/g wet weight in the liver. Positive relationships between Cd and MT, sum of four divalent metal and MT in the kidney cortex were observed. No other correlation was found between Cu and MT, Hg and MT, Zn and MT in either organs.