192 Countries Allow Easy Entry During Lunar New Year Holiday... South Korean Passport Power Ranks 2nd Worldwide

Ranked 2nd Among 199 Countries
Top Tier Since 2018

The 2023 global ranking of passports for travel convenience has been released, with South Korea once again ranking 2nd among 199 countries worldwide this year.

On the 10th (local time), according to CNN in the United States, Henry & Partners, an international citizenship and residency advisory firm headquartered in London, announced the "Henley Passport Index."

This company ranks passports based on the number of countries that can be visited without a visa or through relatively simple entry procedures.

The index measures the number of countries that passport holders can visit without a prior visa or with simplified entry procedures, and Henry & Partners has been publishing this quarterly since 2006.

Japan ranks 1st in passport power... easy entry to 193 countries

In the global passport ranking that counts the number of countries one can visit without obtaining a visa in advance, the "Korean passport" ranked 2nd. Photo by Yonhap News

The report released on this day showed that Japan ranked highest, with access to 193 countries. South Korea and Singapore tied for 2nd place.

In the first quarter of last year, Japan and Singapore were tied for 1st place with access to 192 countries each, while South Korea tied for 2nd place with Germany, with access to 190 countries. The South Korean passport was once ranked 13th in 2013 but has consistently maintained a top position, ranking 2nd or 3rd globally since 2018.

Following them, Finland, Italy, and Luxembourg tied for 4th place, while Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden tied for 5th place, indicating that European countries generally have high passport index scores.

The United States passport was ranked around 7th globally, allowing visa-free access to 186 countries. Russia ranked 48th with access to 118 countries, and China ranked 66th with access to 80 countries.

North Korea ranked 102nd with access to 40 countries. Only eight countries had lower passport index scores than North Korea, including Nepal, Palestine, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Sharp increase in overseas travelers during Lunar New Year holiday... reservation rate up 7000%

Meanwhile, with social distancing measures due to COVID-19 effectively lifted for the first time during this Lunar New Year holiday, the number of travelers going abroad is expected to surge. Popular overseas destinations include Japan and Southeast Asia.

According to Hana Tour, the top travel agency in Korea, about 15,000 people have booked package tours departing between the 20th and 24th, which includes the Lunar New Year holiday. This represents a 7015% increase compared to last year’s Lunar New Year holiday.