Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, yellow-pigmented bacteria isolated from a freshwater stream in Korea were investigated to determine their taxonomic position. Complete 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the organisms should be placed in the Chryseobacterium-Bergeyella-Riemerella branch in the family Flavobacteriaceae. Phylogenetically, the strains were most closely related to Chryseobacterium balustinum ATCC 33487(T) and Chryseobacterium scophthalmum LMG 13028(T) (94.3 and 94.1 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively) and they clustered on a separate well-supported branch. The strains contained menaquinone MK-6 as the predominant respiratory quinone and showed higher G+C contents (41.7 mol%) than other species in the Chryseobacterium-Bergeyella-Riemerella branch and i-C(15 : 0) as a major fatty acid (47-52 %). The phylogenetic distances from any species with validly published names and their phenotypic properties confirmed that the strains constitute a separate species in a new genus, for which the name Kaistella koreensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed (type strain Chj707(T)=KCTC 12107(T)=IAM 15050(T)).