Interesting, the global competitiveness report of the WEF lists South Korea as rank 20 for innovation.
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-2017/05FullReport/TheGl... [PDF] page 50
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-2017/05FullReport/TheGl... [PDF] page 50