By Min Yea-Ji and Kim Young Shin

Korea’s sovereign credit rating has gained the most over the past 10 years among OECD members.

Currently, the three major global credit ratings agencies -- Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s (S&P) and Fitch -- rank Korea’s sovereign rating as 14th, among the 35 OECD economies. A decade ago, Moody’s ranked Korea as 28th, and the other two had Korea at 24th.

As of the end of October, Korea’s credit rating is at the "stable” level.

Moody’s and S&P assigned their third highest rating, Aa2 and AA, to Korea. Fitch has rated Korea’s credit rating at AA-, its fourth-highest.

Compared to a decade ago, Moody’s and S&P have upgraded Korea’s rating by three notches, and Fitch, by one. This is the biggest gain among OECD members.

Concerning the three agencies, Korea rates two notches higher than Japan. Compared to China, Korea is two spots higher by the ratings given by Moody’s and S&P, and one notch higher by Fitch’s.

The change is huge considering that Moody’s rated Japan’s sovereign rating five spots higher than Korea’s 10 years ago.

On Oct. 18, Moody’s announced that it has maintained Korea’s rating at Aa2, for the country’s strong economic recovery, fiscal soundness and transparent government systems are all doing quite well.

jesimin@korea.kr