What rank does Korea hold in the world? Because the fields of appraisal are not definite, the answer to the question may be too vague. But we have the answer through overall appraisal: our country is the 13th in the world in 'appraisal of Korea's overall national power.' It's conducted by 'The Hansun Foundation for Freedom and Happiness' and 'Chosun Ilbo' on the occasion of the Independence Day of Korea. Our national power is 13rd. It is a composite rank judged in various fields like Government, Economic, Society, Culture, National Defense and etc. The major advanced countries and twenty industrialized countries(G20) are objects of this appraisal. America and China were first and second place respectively. In fact, China wasn't even in the G7 a few years ago. When we take this into consideration, they grew up by a stupendous force. We should not overlook it as a result of mis-ranking. We were not in the G7 last year, but we were admitted as one of the emerging economies this time. And we are in the G20 now. However, we have to see other countries in the G20 excepting for the G7 and find out what sense our ranking in the world gives us. Our world trade ranking has gone down, so is it right our composite ranking is 13rd?

<G7> : U.S.A, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada

<G20> : <G7>, Korea, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, EU, Saudi Arabia, The Republic of South Africa, Turkey and Australia.

Let's check on this appraisal in detail. It's formed of Hard Power and Soft Power. Hard Power is composed of traditional elements that measured national power like Economic Power, Education power, Science and Technology Power, National Defense Power, Intelligence Capability, standard of National Power like Territory and Population and so on. In this area, our ranking is 9th. But it is 12th in the Soft Power area like Political, Diplomacy, Culture Capability, Social Capital Government's Power and so on. Usually Hard Power is more powerful than Soft Power in advanced countries like the U.S.A, EU and etc. But our country is not so, it is opposite to them. Then, our country is not an advanced country, is it? The reason is in the process of our country's growth. We had thought that the other thing except for economic growth is not important since the Saemaeul Movement because we are intent on short term economic growth. This background became the foundation stone, so it has affected our country until now. How could China grow up to be the second place with stupendous force on this appraisal?

In Asia, Korea has always been in comparison and competition with China and Japan from a long time ago. Japan was the first nation to become an advanced country among them and the other two countries followed after Japan. Many people thought the order is not going to be changed easily, but China broke the prejudice with their continuous effort. The biggest reason China could win the second place in this 'G20 Appraisal' was that they made excellent progress in 3 parts: Political Power, Power of Culture and Social Capital Power. In fact, China was evaluated as the best political nation in the world even though they're a despotic state ruled by the Communist Party. Researchers said: "The stability of China's political system is the biggest factor and the nation trusts the politicians because they're capable statesmen." In the case of Power of Culture, researchers warned the fact that China won the first place among 20 countries because their low-price cultural products. In addition, the biggest problem of China was revealed at the part of Environmental Protection and National Management. Compared to this, Canada, the 3rd in Soft Power area, took the first ranking in the same fields and it's shown the clear difference. We can also see the different structure which makes Canada show its strength in Soft Power, even if its Hard Power was ranked at 8th. Researchers cleared up the reason: "Canada has an advanced system in Blocking Corruption and Constitutional Parts affected by the English democratic tradition. Also that's the aspects of ideal countries that Korea should follow." In this point of view, our country should enforce Soft Power like Canada to become an advanced country.

For the development of Korea, we should take a look at the examples of China and Canada. We have to follow the good points of these countries and eliminate the bad points. The alternative plan that is published in this appraisal is irony: Korea will be ranked as one of the top countries in economic power when South and North are united into one. But we do not know when that will be accomplished. Considering the North's economic situation, we cannot assure a synergy effect on the economy by reunification. So we don't need to expect too much from it. Instead we need something realistic. Maybe it clings to a numerical value, too. But it has a important meaning in that the numerical value is calculated from all sections combined. Therefore, we should work hard for Korea's external economic power rather than clinging to numerical value in economy.