Circular leaf spot(CLS) disease causes considerable economic damage to persimmon(Diospyros kaki) in South Korea. Mycosphaerella nawae ascospores are the primary inoculum for CLS epidemics. In this study, we investigated the seasonal fluctuation of spore release and its relationship to environmental factors, based on spore trapping. We evaluated the seasonal pattern of released M. nawae ascospores in South Korea. During three persimmon growing seasons(2010 to 2012), we recorded the release of ascospores in two regions, Jinju and Gimhae, which are major producing regions of sweet persimmon in South Korea. The release of CLS ascospores was from the first week of May to the end of July. The maximum release of spores was observed in late June. A computer model used accumulated degree days to simulate ascospore release. The overall mean accumulated degree days, from 01 May to 50% ascospore release for the observed data(1174℃ days), was not significantly different from the predicted value of 1144℃ days. The mean differences between predicted and observed release percentages for the sampling periods were not significantly different from zero.