The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Populus koreana was characterized using Illumina pair-end sequencing. The chloroplast genome of P. koreana was 156,868 bp in length, containing a large single-copy region (LSC) of 84,976 bp, a small single-copy region (SSC) of 16,606 bp, and two inverted repeat (IR) regions of 27,643 bp. The overall GC content is 30.70%, whereas the corresponding values of the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 64.6%, 69.2%, and 60.1%, respectively. The genome contains 131 complete genes, including 86 protein-coding genes (62 protein-coding gene species), 37 tRNA genes (29 tRNA species), and eight rRNA genes (four rRNA species). The neighbour-joining phylogenetic analysis showed that P. koreana and Populus fremontii clustered together as sisters to other Populus species.