Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on April 21 said in the report "2021 World Press Freedom Index" that Korea was tops in Asia for freedom of the press. The RSF's map distinguishes each country's press freedom index as white (good), yellow (fairly good), orange (problematic), red (bad) and black (very bad). (Screen capture from RSF's official website)

By Sarah Oqelee and Yoon Hee Young

Korea has the highest level of freedom of the press among Asian countries.

The France-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on April 21 said in the report “2021 World Press Freedom Index” that Korea placed 42nd overall among 180 countries surveyed, the same rank as last year's.

Thus Korea led Asia in the category for the third straight year, with Taiwan second at 43rd overall.

Korea’s highest overall finish was 31st in 2006 but the nation plunged to 70th in 2016. The ranking recovered to 63rd in 2017 and 41st in 2019.

The RSF said, “The election of Moon Jae-in, a human rights activist and former political prisoner, as president in 2017 has been a breath of fresh air after a bad decade in which South Korea fell more than 30 places in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index.”

Norway topped the global index for the fifth consecutive year, followed by its Northern European neighbors Finland (second), Sweden (third) and Denmark (fourth).

Costa Rica was fifth, the Netherlands sixth, Jamaica seventh, New Zealand eighth, Portugal ninth and Switzerland tenth. Germany placed 13th, the U.K. 33rd, France 34th, the U.S. 44th and Japan 67th.

Since 2002, the RSF has released its report on press freedom in 180 countries based on surveys of a nation's media activity, censorship environment and transparency targeting non-governmental organizations, journalists and human rights activists.

sarahoqelee@korea.kr