Objective : To translate Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) into North Korean language and to examine its reliability and validity. Methods : North Korean defectors (n=207) recruited from the call center for North Korean defectors par- ticipated. Psychiatrists and psychiatric residents interviewed the participants and made the psychiatric diag- noses. Subsequently, the participants completed the CES-D, Impact of Event-Scale-Revised-North Korea (IES-R-NK), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-North Korea (AUDIT-NK), and Brief Psychological State Inventory for North Korean Refugees (BPSI-NKR) questionnaires. Of the original participants, 143 subjects participated in test-retest reliability study after one week. Results : Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of CES-D-NK was superior in both males (0.91) and females (0.93). The test-retest correlation coefficient was high (males, 0.64 ; femals, 0.79). Good convergent validity was evi- dent by significant correlations with IER-R-NK, BPSI-NKR-Depression and BPSI-NKR-PTSD, respective- ly. CES-D-NK had no or weak correlations with AUDIT-NK and BPSI-NKR-Alcohol, showing its discrimi- nant validity. Conclusion : CES-D-NK could be a reliable and valid tool for screening and assessing depressive symp- toms of North Korean defectors. (Anxiety and Mood 2015;11(1):54-60)