A new report finds that South Korea is a global leader in manufacturing but falls far behind advanced countries in the fields of labor and society.
 
In its annual “Korea and the World” report released on Tuesday, the Institute for International Trade under the Korea International Trade Association said South Korea ranked first in the world last year in mobile phone shipments, second in semiconductor sales and second in ship orders and shipbuilding.
 
The report also found that South Korea came in fifth in the number of automobiles produced and sixth in crude steel production.
 
However, the report also found that South Korea ranked 30th in terms of women's participation in economic activities, 166th in fertility rate and 40th in quality of life.
 
The report also found that South Korea’s average annual working hours per person stood at two-thousand-124, the third longest in the world.
 
The institute releases the “Korea and the World” report every year which gauges South Korea’s standing in some 170 categories, including the economy, trade and society.