Korea Rates 44th on Economic Freedom Index

Korea placed 44th in an international economic freedom index based upon the year 1997. That placed them even lower than the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia, not to mention Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.
The Federation of Korean Industries(FKI) on November 3 announced the results of 'Economic Freedom of the World 1998' which surveyed 119 nations.
The index's criteria comprised governmental importance, market economy, currency value, asset management, legal system, and capital exchange.
Korea was 39th in 1990 with 5.8 points out of perfect 10, but even though their score improved to 7.5 points they still fell to 44th place. The market economy points were expecially dismal at 3.5(85th) which really hurt the whole ranking. The low market economy score represents the view that governmental control strongly remains in the Korean marketplace.
Asia's pearl, Hong Kong, topped the ranking, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, USA, and England.Japan was 15th while Thailand placed 26th.