diff --git a/wp-admin/import/wp-cat2tag.php b/wp-admin/import/wp-cat2tag.php
index 1c5d43a1c9..edbf4b5bd4 100644
--- a/wp-admin/import/wp-cat2tag.php
+++ b/wp-admin/import/wp-cat2tag.php
@@ -126,12 +126,22 @@ class WP_Categories_to_Tags {
 					continue;
 				}
 
-				// Set the category itself to $type from above
-				$wpdb->query("UPDATE $wpdb->term_taxonomy SET taxonomy = 'post_tag' WHERE term_id = '{$category->term_id}' AND taxonomy = 'category'");
-
-				// Set all parents to 0 (root-level) if their parent was the converted tag
-				$wpdb->query("UPDATE $wpdb->term_taxonomy SET parent = 0 WHERE parent = '{$category->term_id}' AND taxonomy = 'category'");
+				// If the category is the default, leave category in place and create tag.
+				if ( get_option('default_category') == $category->term_id ) {
+					$id = wp_insert_term($category->name, 'post_tag', array('slug' => $category->slug));
+					$id = $id['term_taxonomy_id'];
+					$posts = get_objects_in_term($category->term_id, 'category');
+					foreach ( $posts as $post ) {
+						if ( !$wpdb->get_var("SELECT object_id FROM $wpdb->term_relationships WHERE object_id = '$post' AND term_taxonomy_id = '$id'") )						
+							$wpdb->query("INSERT INTO $wpdb->term_relationships (object_id, term_taxonomy_id) VALUES ('$post', '$id')");
+					}
+				} else {
+					// Change the category to a tag.
+					$wpdb->query("UPDATE $wpdb->term_taxonomy SET taxonomy = 'post_tag' WHERE term_id = '{$category->term_id}' AND taxonomy = 'category'");
 
+					// Set all parents to 0 (root-level) if their parent was the converted tag
+					$wpdb->query("UPDATE $wpdb->term_taxonomy SET parent = 0 WHERE parent = '{$category->term_id}' AND taxonomy = 'category'");
+				}
 				// Clean the cache
 				clean_category_cache($category->term_id);