In wheat, pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) is the premature germination of seeds in the spike that occurs before harvest under prolonged wet and humid conditions, causing substantial losses in yield and quality. Moreover, climate change may increase the risk of PHS in wheat production in Korea. In this study, using 42 Korean wheat cultivars, we sought to determine whether the activity of α-amylase could serve as a biochemical indicator of PHS. Spikes were harvested 38 days after anthesis and treated to induce PHS, and after 4 days, we determined the rates of PHS and α-amylase activity among the assessed cultivars. The rates of PHS and activity of α-amylase ranged from 0% to 84.17% and 0.52 to 56.40 SD units/10 g, respectively, and we detected a strong positive correlation between the rate of PHS and α-amylase activity (Pearson’s r=0.90, p<0.001). Simple linear regression further revealed that the activity of α-amylase explained 82% of the variation in the rate of PHS (R²=0.82). These finding indicate that the activity of α-amylase can serve as a quantitative index of PHS severity and complement visual assessments. Consequently, the activity of α-amylase could represent a useful selection criterion for screening PHS resistance among Korean wheat cultivars and in breeding programs.