As a first step toward understanding the divergence and relationships of the Nymphalidae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) occurring in South Korea, cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA), and elongation factor-$1{alpha}$ (EF-$1{alpha}$) that comprise 3,501-3,716 bp were either sequenced (55 species) or the sequences were obtained from GenBank (23 species). The concatenated sequence divergence of six nymphalid subfamilies ranked in the following order: Danainae (10.3%), Satyrinae (9.5%), Limenitidinae (8.0%), Apaturinae (7.0%), Nymphalinae (6.7%), and Heliconiinae (6.2%). As has been reported in previous large scale international studies, the subfamilial relationships of (((((Limenitidinae + Heliconiinae) + (Nymphalinae + Apaturinae)) + Satyrinae) + Libytheinae) + Danainae) were also confirmed, except for the switched positions between Danainae and Libytheinae, and supported all subfamilies and tribe monophylies. Unlikely consistent phylogenetic relationships among genera within the majority of tribes in Nymphalidae, a conflicting relationship within the subfamily Apaturinae was obvious, presenting Apatura as sister to either Mimathyma or (Mimathyma + (Sephisa + (Hestina + Sasakia))), and both of these relationships are unconventional. Within the subfamily Limenitidinae, the genus Neptis was consistently revealed as a paraphyletic with respect to the genus Aldania, requiring further taxonomic investigation of the genus. Although limited, current sequence information and phylogenetic relationships are expected to be helpful for further studies.