Seoul still lags in other fields of advancement index

By Kim Tae-gyu

Korea’s competitiveness in culture substantially improved over the past three years with the country ranking 18th in the National Advancement Index (NAI) 2013, up six places from 2010, according to a Seoul-based private think-tank Wednesday.

The Hansun Foundation for Freedom and Happiness (HFFH) announced that Korea positioned seventh in both the numbers of films and dailies produced, and eighth in publication of books but struggled in most other categories.

“Although Korea came in at 28th out of 40 nations surveyed for the NAI rankings, the country was found to perform relatively well in some cultural and economic indicators,” an HFFH official said.

“In economics, its research investment was No. 3 in the world. However, the nation was far behind developed countries in most other segments.”

To benchmark countries that dwell on the higher echelons of the table like top player Norway and runner-up Sweden, he contended that Asia’s fourth-largest economy is required to stir up itself with dedicated strategies.

“To raise its NAI ranking, Korea has to jack up its competitiveness across the board because the nation is behind developed economies in most indicators, particularly in politics, global contribution and society,” he said.

“For example, it should establish short-term, mid-term and long-term action plans to catch up with the developed countries.”

Prof. Moon Whi-chang at Seoul National University, who headed the NAI study, concurred that the country still has a long way to go despite the general belief that it has racked up a great improvement in national competitiveness.

“As singer Psy basked in international spotlight and made-in-Korea products gain popularity in the world market, many thinks that we have achieved great advancement,” Moon said.

“However, we are still lagging behind our rivals in terms of the NAI. We are required to put forth sincere efforts to sharpen the country’s competitive edge in the future.”

Park added among the four emerging Asian economies, Korea is the lowest in the NAI rankings at 28th, compared to 15th for Hong Kong, 22nd for Singapore and 27th for Taiwan.

Psy enjoyed the global limelight last year with his worldwide smash “Gangnam Style” and “Gentleman” is the rapper’s follow-up, which chalked up hundreds of millions of views on YouTube.

President Park also praised the pop star as a model for achieving the “creative economy,” her major economic goal geared toward generating future growth engines through an inter-disciplinary approach.

Seoul-based think-tank 

The HFFH was founded by Park Se-il in 2006, a former conservative politician, with the self-proclaimed commitment to the development of the national vision, national agenda and strategies.

At the institute’s launch, it claimed that its goals were to rekindle the country with a new vision appropriate for the new century and to produce pragmatic policies for this through academic research.

The organization has actively carried out a variety of activities like education of young leaders, international conferences, research on national competitiveness under the stewardship of Park.

It started to announce the NAI rankings in 2008 to gauge the level of 30 advanced and 10 emerging economies in terms of politics, society, economics, culture and global contribution.

Included in the approximately 40 indicators are per capita gross domestic product, the electoral process, a rule of law index, corruption as well as research and development expenditure.

Based on such efforts, the HFFH has been picked as the most influential local private think-tank.

Park also has expressed interest in North Korea, which is one of the major issues for the HFFH.

The former lawmaker said in a press conference in 2007: “We need a new paradigm for North Korea policy. The goal should be improving the lives of North Koreans. We should aim at freeing them from fear and hunger, and helping them lead their lives with at least the minimum level of human dignity.

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