By Kim Hyelin
Korea's "passport power" is ranked second worldwide among 199 countries.
According to the 2023 Henley Passport Index for the first quarter of this year released by the British consulting group Henley & Partners, a Korean passport allows visa-free entry to 192 countries.
Korea fell just behind leader Japan, whose passport allows visa-free entry to 193 countries. Singapore also tied Korea for second.
Germany and Spain shared the third spot with 190 countries, Finland, Italy and Luxembourg (189) tied for fourth, and Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden (188) shared fifth.
The U.S. passport allows visa-free visits to 186 countries, seventh along with those of Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
North Korea placed 102nd with 40 countries.
Henley & Partners releases its quarterly evaluation of the passport power of 199 countries based on data from the International Air Transport Association.
In the first quarter last year, Japan and Singapore tied for first with 192 countries, while Korea shared second (190) with Germany.
The Korean passport was ranked 13th in 2013 but has remained near the top since 2018 by placing second or third.
