The decline in national competitiveness ranking; the presidential office states, "The causes are the insurrection incident and political and economic uncertainties."

The presidential office officially stated that the decline in South Korea's national competitiveness ranking is primarily due to the insurrection incident that occurred last year and political and economic uncertainties.

Kang Yoo-jung, spokesperson for the presidential office, stated in a written briefing on the morning of the 17th, "In the '2025 National Competitiveness Evaluation' announced by the Swiss International Institute for Management Development (IMD), our country recorded 27th place, a drop of seven places from last year’s 20th position," and added, "This is closely related to the negative impacts of last year's poor performance and the political and economic uncertainties that led to the insurrection incident."

The Lee Jae-myung government pushes for recovery of national competitiveness through 'genuine growth.'

Spokesperson Kang stated, "President Lee Jae-myung has emphasized 'genuine growth' that enhances growth potential since his candidacy," and added, "Accordingly, the Lee Jae-myung government will materialize and execute the vision of 'genuine growth' to promote the recovery of national competitiveness."

She further noted, "The Lee Jae-myung government plans to systematically respond at the inter-ministerial level to enhance national competitiveness and external credibility by revitalizing the Ministry of Economy and Finance's National Competitiveness Policy Council."

In the recent national competitiveness evaluation announced by IMD, Korea ranked 27th out of 69 countries.

Looking at the detailed evaluation items, in the economic performance category, the ranking improved from 16th to 11th, and in government efficiency, it rose from 39th to 31st.

However, in the areas of corporate efficiency and infrastructure, the rankings significantly declined from 23rd to 44th and from 11th to 21st, respectively.

Image source: Kang Yoo-jung, spokesperson for the presidential office / News1, President Lee Jae-myung / News1