South Korea ranked 10th in the 2013 global Web Index on the strength of its solid broadband network and e-government services, the World Wide Web Foundation said on Sunday.

Korea’s overall ranking at 10th among 81 countries this year marks an improvement from last year’s 13th. Korea’s Web Index score was 87.4, outpacing other Asian countries such as Japan (86.4), India (32.4) and China (31.1).

Among the criteria, Korea ranked fourth in the “universal access” index and sixth in “relative content,” though came in 33rd in “freedom and openness.”

The Web Index, compiled by the WWWF, is a composite measure that gauges the health and social utility of the Web, and its score captures universal access, freedom and openness, relevant content and empowerment in the context of the Internet.

Sweden topped the overall Web Index rankings for the second time in a row, trailed by Norway, the U.K., and the U.S.

Among the 81 countries surveyed, just 6 percent met the organization’s best practice standards for checks and balances on government interception of electronic communications.

“The growing tide of surveillance and censorship now threatens the future of democracy,” said Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web and founder of the WWWF. He urged the countries to set up safeguards to “protect our fundamental rights to privacy and freedom of opinion and association online.”

The report showed that Korea is at risk of gaining the status of having “excessive state surveillance,” raising concerns about the government and authorities being engaged in monitoring personal communications and intercepting data at will.

Such concerns are now prevalent worldwide after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden laid bare the massive snooping by the U.S. government, which involved not only phone communication but also emails and Internet data.

In the report, the WWWF expressed concerns about the abuse of legislative power by the Korean government, citing its attempt to suppress the critics and block their views from circulating in recent elections in the name of the National Security Law and the Defamation Law.

By Yoon Ha-youn (yhayoun@heraldcorp.com)