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This paper explains the difference and similarity of ergativity of Korean and English verbs. This study critically reviews Korean ergative verbs of Ko, K.J. (2001), Lee, E.J. (2014), Burzio (1996) and Korean middle verbs of Yeon, J.H. (1989, 2008). And we found out some problems in their explanations. For example, Ko, K.J. (2001) explains that an ergative verb or an unaccusative verb of Korean includes an adjective or an intransitive verb which is nonagentive, whereas an unergative verb includes an intransitive verb which is agentive. It is because some unaccusative verbs can’t be ergative verbs that Ko’s explanations are not always correct. We need to use the affectedness of the object noun (Levin 1993, Haspelath 1993 Dixon 1991, 2005), the change of state (Levin 1993), causer–causee (Fagan 1988), and spontaneous occurrence (Haspelmath 1993, Dixon 1991, 2005) to investigate Korean ergative verbs. We found out some differences between Korean and English ergative verbs. In Korean ergative constructions, the causer can appear within an adverbial phrase, whereas it can’t appear in English. And Korean ergative verbs have many onomatopoeic words but English counterparts don’t.