S.Korea ranks as 6th most powerful country, beating Japan

TOKYO - South Korea ranked the world’s sixth most powerful country, beating Japan, while the peninsular nation was far behind its neighbor in terms of fairness, media reported.

U.S. News & World Report on Sunday placed South Korea at No. 6 and Japan at No. 8 in its list of the world’s most powerful countries for 2022. On the annual list for the previous year, the home to the leading global automaker Toyota Motor Corp. had ranked sixth, while the country with the headquarters of the world’s two largest memory chipmakers Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. had come in eighth.

“South Korea’s high-tech, service-based economy is a foreign investment success story, becoming the first recipient of OECD Development Assistance Committee funds to later become a donor of the funds,” said the media, referring to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“South Korea has one of the world’s largest gross national savings and reserves of foreign investment. Disposable household income has increased in recent years, and the country’s large upper class is keen to spend their money on ‘brand name’ items and products.”

The US topped the most powerful country list for 2022, followed by China and Russia. Germany and the UK ranked No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, while France took seventh place.

U.S. News & World Report releases the annual ranking based on a survey on the influence of each country in areas such as politics, economy and military policies.

KOREA RANKS 21st ON NIKKEI FAIRNESS INDEX

South Korea ranked 21st in a list of fairness compiled by Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), the world’s top financial newspaper.

The Japanese media assesses 84 countries and regions around the world and assigns scores from zero to 100 using 10 indicators based on data from think tanks and other organizations: three for political and legal stability, three for human rights and the environment, and four for economic freedom. Nikkei released the Fairness Index on Sunday for the first time.

South Korea scored 68 with a score of 28 for economic freedom, 25 for political and legal stability, and 16 for human rights and the environment.

Finland topped the list, while Japan and the US ranked 11th and 17th, respectively. China and Russia took the 73rd and 74th places, respectively.

“South Korea and Japan have more risks than the US and Germany as they rely more on trade with China whose fairness index is low,” Nikkei said. “It is a time to rebuild the supply chain, which can reduce the excessive reliance on China.”

Write to Yeong-Hyo Jeong at hugh@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.