This paper aims to explore the extent of definite article usage variation in English used in Korea and Japan based on a classification of its usage types. Following an annotation scheme developed by Wahid (2013) based on Hawkins (1978) and Prince (1992), this study analyzed approximately 3000 tokens of the in three registers: real time online discussion, academic writing and news reportage. The result of analysis was compared with the data from other varieties of English used in Inner Circle and Outer Circle from Wahid (2013) to find that whether there is a strong tendency for English definite article to share patterning with other varieties of English. The results showed that the structural and semantic variation of definite article usage was not shown to be influenced by the varieties of English. Instead, it was found that register can be a predictor of the usage types of the in English used in Korea and Japan. However, a qualitative analysis revealed that some marked usage of definite article was found in structural and situational categories and the marked usage for situational function, in particular, was also found in the Outer Circle varieties presenting themselves as a case of variation.