Using deep near-infrared imaging of the Hubble Deep Field South with ISAAC on the Very Large Telescope 
we find 6 large disk-like galaxies at redshifts z = 1.4 - 3.0 .
The galaxies , selected in K _ { s } ( 2.2 \mu m ) , are regular and surprisingly large in the near-infrared ( rest-frame optical ) , with face-on effective radii r _ { e } = 0 \farcs 65 - 0 \farcs 9 or 5.0 - 7.5 h _ { 70 } ^ { -1 } kpc in a \Lambda CDM cosmology , comparable to the Milky Way .
The surface brightness profiles are consistent with an exponential law over 2 - 3 effective radii .
The WFPC2 morphologies in Hubble Space Telescope imaging ( rest-frame UV ) are irregular and show complex aggregates of star-forming regions \sim 2 \arcsec ( \sim 15 h _ { 70 } ^ { -1 } kpc ) across , symmetrically distributed around the K _ { s } -band centers .
The spectral energy distributions show clear breaks in the rest-frame optical .
The breaks are strongest in the central regions of the galaxies , and can be identified as the age-sensitive Balmer/4000 Å break .
The most straightforward interpretation is that these galaxies are large disk galaxies ; deep NIR data are indispensable for this classification .
The candidate disks constitute 50 % of galaxies with L _ { V } \gtrsim 6 \times 10 ^ { 10 } h _ { 70 } ^ { -2 } L _ { \sun } at z = 1.4 - 3.0 .
This discovery was not expected on the basis of previously studied samples .
In particular , the Hubble Deep Field North is deficient in large galaxies with the morphologies and profiles we report here .