Various somatic symptoms are known to be related to stress in a general population. Korean red ginseng has been used as a therapeutic agent for the treatment and prevention of many diseases in Oriental medicine. There exist no data, however, on the effect of Korean red ginseng on somatic symptoms in a general population. In this study, 21 normal subjects were randomly assigned to the Korean-red-ginseng group, and 18 subjects to the placebo group. The subjects took 3 g Korean red ginseng or placebo every day for three weeks. After the three-week treatment, there was a <time x group> interaction effect of a greater reduction in the Symptom checklist-90-revised (SCL-90-R) somatization score (p=0.04) in the Korean-red-ginseng group. This study suggests that Korean red ginseng is effective for the management of somatic symptoms in a general population.