While the rusty-colored root is common in ginsengs culture and, often results in a severe economic loss, the major factors have not been found. This study was focused on the determination of a potential relationship between rusty root and endophytic bacteria. The number of endophytes was $9.6;{ imes};10^1{sim}1.5;{ imes};10^2;cfu/g$ fw in normal ginseng roots compared to $3.7;{ imes};10^6{sim}5.1;{ imes};10^7;cfu/g$ fw in rusty ones. Of 31 isolates from rusty ginseng roots, twenty-four isolates repeatedly induced severe to moderate rust on root while seven isolates induced slight rust. The bacteria responsible for rusty ginseng roots were mainly Gram negative aerobic. Rust inducing bacteria were identified as Agrobacterium tumefaciens, A. rhizogenes, Burkholderia phenazinium, Ensifer adharens, Lysobacter gummosus, Microbacterium luteolum, M. oxydans, Pseudomonas marginalis, P. veronii, Pseudomonas sp., Rhizobium leguminosarum, R. tropica, Rhodococcus erythropolis, Rh. globerulus, Variovorax paradoxus on the basis of bacteriological characters and 16S rDNA sequences analysis. The results in this study strongly suggested that the rusty ginseng roots were produced by infection and growth of endophytic bacteria.