A method for retransmitting coded bits by a transmitter in response to a retransmission request from a receiver in a mobile communication system which separates coded bits output from an encoder into coded bits with higher priority and coded bits with lower priority, and transmits from the transmitter to the receiver a stream of symbols obtained by symbol mapping the coded bits by a specific modulation technique. The method comprises determining orthogonal codes available for retransmission; separating the coded bits with higher priority and the coded bits with lower priority into a plurality of sub-packets with a given size, and selecting a part of the sub-packets or sub-packets to be repeatedly transmitted, depending on the determined number of available orthogonal codes; and transmitting a stream of symbols obtained by symbol-mapping coded bits of the selected sub-packets by the specific modulation technique, with the determined available orthogonal codes.