Naphtha cracking bottom oil was reformed with heat treatment and then spun at 310℃. These pitch-based carbon fibers were carbonized at 1000℃ after oxidation at 280℃, for 90 min. These fibers were chemically activated with molar ratio of KOH/CF (1 : 1) at different temperatures (250~900℃) for 1 hr. The process of activation was characterized with DTA, TGA, BET surface area and pore size distribution. The activation of fibers by KOH was performed by several process. One is the reduction process that carbon fiber was reacted with K2O produced from dehydration process above 400℃. The other is the process that K2CO3 was directly reacted with carbon fiber. At 800℃, the activation was performed by catalyzed mechanism that K2O was obtained from the reaction of metal potassium with CO2, then was changed to K2CO3. At 870℃, the activation was also observed that activation mechanism was promoted by metal catalyst with CO2 from decomposition of K2CO3. The specific surface area of prepared activated carbon fibers was dependent on the activation mechanism. The specific surface area was in the range of 1519~2000 cm3/g and was the largest prepared at 870℃. The pores developed were mostly micropores which was very narrow and uniform. The total pore volume was 0.58~0.77 cm3/g.