Korea ranks 4th in both lists

Of the 14 pan-Pacific nations including the U.S., Japan and Australia, Korea ranked 4th in both areas of political and economic stability.

The ranking came following an investigation by the Hong-Kong based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd which analyzed each country`s economic and political risk factors as they apply to foreign business ventures or companies.

The PERC revealed that the foreign businessmen in Korea, in lieu of political instability concern, had a higher degree of concern for the economic factors including the exchange rates, the financial/business reform policies, the supply and demand market conditions in the U.S. and China.

The PERC report which contained the result of their investigation stated that over the last ten years there has been a great progress made toward a more comprehensive democratization as well as pulling off of a rather interesting political development like the inter-Korean summit. However, the report further stated that the recent loss of resolve toward economic reform is beginning to become a cause of concern for the foreign businesses.

Especially for the foreign businessmen located in the outer regions away from Seoul, they showed high degree of interest toward economic developments making inroads eastward in lieu of political concerns such as the question of succession for President Kim or Korean political environment.

The current report placed Australia at the top of both lists as being the most stable, followed by Japan and the U.S. Two states, Singapore and Thailand, shared the fifth spot and Indonesia was at the bottom of both lists.