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One of the most popular pieces of content for people is the ranking of each category.
'What is the most powerful tank in the world?', 'What is the ranking of Korea's military power?'
There are various fields, such as the same national defense field, 'world ranking of domestic universities' and 'popular culture influence'.
Recently, 'US NEWS & WORLD REPORT', a media specializing in ranking research in the United States, published a survey result that can be seen as encompassing all of these.
That's the 'country ranking'.
Overall ranking, Korea ranked 20th out of 85 countries
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As you can see from the table above, Korea scored relatively high in influence, entrepreneurship, and cultural influence, but scored low in business openness, adventurous spirit, and social purpose.
The overall rating was 20th out of 85 countries.
(It was ranked 15th out of 78 countries last year.) For reference, if I explain a bit more about the somewhat ambiguous term 'social purpose', it is about how well social values such as human rights, the environment, gender equality, and freedom of religion are protected. That is what the media describes.
Then, which country was selected as the top overall national ranking, that is, the '2022 Best Country'?
Switzerland was ranked highly for openness to business (1st), quality of life (4th) and entrepreneurship (7th).
Another thing, in this ranking, what place did Japan, the 'near and far country' we always wonder about?
Japan ranked 6th in the overall ranking this year, but compared to 2nd place out of 78 countries last year, it showed a slight fall.
Why is Japan's influence so low... our challenge
Although we fell behind Japan in the overall ranking, there are areas where we are ahead of Japan.
As mentioned earlier, it is the 'power field'.
While Korea received high scores in economic influence, exports, and military power, it was evaluated relatively low in leaders and political influence.
Shall we look at the two countries' influence evaluation?
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If you compare the tables at a glance, you can see that both countries show similar figures in terms of economy, political influence, and exports.
However, there is a very large difference in one item.
That's military power.
This is because Japan has so far only expanded its military power for defense purposes in accordance with the pacifist constitution.
Instead, this role has been taken over by the US military if Japan is attacked.
However, it seems that the situation will change as the Japanese government decides to revise three major security documents, including the National Security Strategy, through a cabinet meeting on the 16th of last month.
The three major security documents are key documents that determine Japan's mid- to long-term security, diplomacy, and defense strategies.
The most notable thing here is the stipulation of possession of counterattack ability.
Japan has made it possible to strike enemy missile bases in case Japan or other countries with close relations are attacked.
To this end, Japan plans to increase the range of domestic missiles while importing American Tomahawk missiles.
We are also planning to significantly increase defense spending, and we have decided to secure 43 trillion yen, or about 410 trillion won, of our money over the next five years.
This is 1.5 times more than the previous five-year defense budget, and the policy is to increase the defense budget for one year to 11 trillion yen, or 2% of GDP, by 2027.
At this rate, it will become the world's third-largest defense spending country after the United States and China.
In terms of influence, it seems inevitable that Japan's military power will be pursued in the future.
Considering the position of Korea, which has no choice but to have a competitive relationship with Japan historically and geopolitically, it is not something to be inadvertently overlooked.
It is time to make efforts to develop our own strengths in other fields as well.