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Korea ranked 17th in this year's Global Remote Work Index (GRWI), an index evaluating countries for their remote work environment.
According to global cybersecurity firm NordLayer, which analyzed data of 108 countries to discover the best remote work destinations, Denmark topped the list of the GRWI 2023, excelling in the domains of digital and physical infrastructure and social safety.
The Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Sweden round out the top five selected as prime locations for remote work, based on the index. The GRWI measured the countries in four main criteria ― cybersecurity, economics, digital & physical infrastructure and social safety ― to assess the quality of remote work.
Korea ranked 17th in the list, which is the highest place among Asian countries. Japan ranked 22nd, Singapore 28th and China 39th.

Images of Global Remote Work Index (GRWI) by NordLayer / Courtesy of NordLayer
Korea particularly received favorable assessments for digital and physical infrastructure, taking the second-highest spot among the 108 countries.
Specifically, the country scored highly in the internet quality, electronic infrastructure and e-government domains.
Korea follows only Singapore in the category, and is followed by the UAE, Denmark, Switzerland and the U.S. among others.
Korea was also highly evaluated in the social safety category, compared to other countries. Ranked 12th overall in the category, Korea performed well in the individual rights and safety categories, reflecting the external image of a country with social well-being.
While Switzerland, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway and Finland were ranked as the top five in the social safety domain, Japan (10th), Korea (12th) and New Zealand (14th) are the sole non-European countries that were ranked relatively high in the list.
However, Korea fared relatively poorly for cyber safety (39th) and economic safety (47th) in the index assessment.
Within the cyber safety area, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany and Saudi Arabia made the top five in the list, while the U.K., U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand were top-ranked in economic safety criteria.
Given that the index developer said cyber safety and social safety dimensions correlate as the paramount predictors of an exceptional remote work experience, Korea has more work ahead to improve itself in the cyber safety category if it hopes to step up as a better remote work destination.
Yet, the index developer highlighted that despite Korea's relative difficulties in terms of economic stability, it ranked 5th globally in terms of tourism attractiveness, showing that Korea is an appealing country for both visitors and remote workers.