This image shows acting Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il. (Yonhap) South Korea will work to identify its weaknesses and turn them into new opportunities for future growth, Acting Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il said Friday, stressing that the country’s recent drop in the global competitiveness ranking must serve as a “turning point.”
According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, South Korea ranked 27th out of 69 countries in the 2025 World Competitiveness Ranking released by the International Institute for Management Development, falling seven places from last year’s record high of 20th.
The IMD, a Switzerland-based business school, has published the annual ranking since 1989. It evaluates countries based on four pillars: economic performance, government efficiency, corporate efficiency and infrastructure.
“We will thoroughly assess and analyze the identified weaknesses to turn this into an opportunity to enhance our national competitiveness,” Lee said during a policy coordination meeting with related government agencies and private-sector experts.
In this year’s breakdown, South Korea fell sharply in business efficiency, ranking 44th, a 21-spot drop from the previous year.
Addressing the corporate sector challenges, Lee said the government will establish an innovation ecosystem for the artificial intelligence (AI) transformation and build a talent development system.
The government also plans to coordinate closely with the private sector to address structural inefficiencies and push forward digital innovation to regain lost ground in future rankings, he added. (Yonhap)