A study of Korean children's interpretation of the reflexive pronoun "caki" when it precedes a third person noun phrase, that is, in backward anaphora, had as subjects 4- to 11-year-old children living in Korea. Test sentences designed on the basis of two important syntactic aspects in Korean reflexive anaphora--relational hierarchy and backward principle--were presented to the subjects in both neutral and overtly stated topic contexts. The children's identifications of the antecedent were recorded and analyzed. Results indicate that, in general, the topic context had a greater effect on the children's interpretation than did the neutral context, and that the children's sensitivity to the topic contexts increased with age. Unlike previous research results, however, the older children used context more frequently, but with more selectivity. The children's possible formulation of a hierarchy for referents is also suggested. (MSE)