The present invention relates to a method for setting initial values of graph cuts) to distinguish between a character region and a background region in an image. The method includes the steps of: (a) detecting a face region from an inputted image; (b) determining reference character region patterns including respective face regions, among pre-stored multiple character region patterns, of which degrees of similarity to the detected face region exceed the predetermined value; and (c) granting an initial value for the background to a first region which is not covered by any of the reference character region patterns and an initial value for the character to a second region which is covered by all of the reference character region patterns if the reference character region patterns are aligned overlappedly on the inputted image based on the detected face region.