Korea’s National Brand Value Ranks 13th

The ranking of Korea’s national brand value dropped for three consecutive years to 13th this year. Samsung Electronics is found to have the highest brand value among Korean companies at over an estimated 31 trillion won.

The Institute for Industrial Policy Studies (chief director: Cho Dong-seoung) announced the result of its assessment of national and corporate brand value in “Korea Brand Conference 2005,” held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Seoul on December 6.

Korea’s national brand value increased from 485 billion dollars last year to 594.7 billion dollars (about 594 trillion won) this year, but its ranking fell one notch to 13th in a study conducted on 37 countries, said the institute.

The ranking dropped for three years in a row from 9th in 2002, to 10th in 2003, and to 12th last year. According to the research institute, the decline is attributable to the fact that the national brand power index of Korea ranked only 18th, down five notches from last year. The index is calculated based on a survey conducted on foreigners.

Samsung Electronics maintained its number one position again in corporate brand value in Korea with 31.2060 trillion won worth of value. It was followed by SK Telecom at 7.7097 trillion won, Hyundai Motors at 6.4796 trillion won, KT at 5.3455 trillion won, POSCO at 5.2973 trillion won, LG Electronics at 3.7799 trillion won, Kia Motors at 1.8059 trillion won, KTF at 1.8031 trillion won, SK Corporation at 1.6680 trillion won, and Samsung SDI at 1.1846 trillion won.

Chang-Won Kim changkim@donga.com