A Gram-positive, aerobic or facultative anaerobic, motile, spore-forming bacterial strain, designated Gsoil 1638T, was isolated from a soil sample of a ginseng field in Pocheon province (South Korea), and was characterized taxonomically by using a polyphasic approach. It grew well on nutrient agar medium, utilized a fairly narrow spectrum of carbon sources and tolerated 10% NaCl. The isolate was positive for catalase and oxidase tests but negative for the degradation of macromolecules such as casein, collagen, starch, chitin, CM-cellulose, xylan and DNA. The G + C content of the genomic DNA was 50.7 mol%. The predominant isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone 7 (MK-7). The major fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0 (44%) and C16:0 (25%). Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain Gsoil 1638T fell within the radiation of the cluster comprising Paenibacillus species and joined Paenibacillus anaericanus DSM 15890T with a bootstrap value of 100%. These two strains shared 99.5% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with each other. The phylogenetic distance from any other validly described species within the genus Paenibacillus was less than 96.2%. DNA-DNA relatedness value between strain Gsoil 1638T and its closest phylogenetic neighbor, Paenibacillus anaericanus, was 62%. On the basis of its phenotypic properties and phylogenetic distinctiveness, strain Gsoil 1638T (= KCTC 13931T = LMG 23406T = CCUG 52472T) was classified in the genus Paenibacillus as the type strain of a novel species, for which the name Paenibacillus ginsengisoli sp. nov. is proposed.