Brown planthopper (BPH) is a major insect pest of tropical indica and temperate japonica rice in Asia and Africa. A major BPH resistance gene, Bph18 derived from IR65482-7-216-1-2 has been fine mapped on chromosome 12 and confers strong resistance to the Korean biotype of BPH. The Bph18 gene is tightly linked to the STS marker, 7312.T4A and is non-allelic to previously reported resistance genes present on chromosome 12. The Bph18 gene has been transferred into two elite japonica cultivars (Jinbubyeo and Junambyeo) background through marker-assisted backcross breeding (MAB) strategy. Foreground selection using STS markrs linked to the Bph18 gene in advanced backcross progenies confirmed homozygous marker alleles associated with BPH resistance. Background selection of the breeding lines with 260 simple repeat (SSR) markers revealed rapid conversion toward recurrent parent genotypes with less donor chromosomal segments (5.3-16.7%). Major agronomic traits of the progenies were analyzed and some breeding lines have agronomic traits comparable to the recurrent parent. One breeding line (S.523) with multiple-resistance to BPH and major diseases, desirable agronomic traits and grain quality has been recommended for regional testing in Korea. MAB is the suitable strategy to incorporate new genes into susceptible japonica to develop elite breeding lines.