The study is based on quantitative data taken from official and unofficial statistics and qualitative data from 18 case studies and 64 life histories of middle-class delinquents. Background factors identified in the rise of middle-class delinquency in South Korea pertain to the job market change occasioned by rapid industrialization, population moves from rural to urban settings, changes in the family structure, the growth of a new middle class, and an improvement in educational levels. Characteristics of middle-class delinquency include its hiddeness (its frequency is revealed more through self-reports than through official statistics), its group orientation, and its complexity. Family problems, school problems, and youth culture problems tend to dominate as factors in middle-class delinquency. Most middle-class delinquency wanes with time, but persists among those who continue to be alienated from normative social influences. Long-term efforts to reduce middle-class delinquency must include the democratization of family interactions, the inclusion of social and cultural values in public education, and the replacement of materialistic and hedonistic values with concern for human dignity and human rights. 11 tables and 19 references