Korea is a better place to do business than Hong Kong, the World Bank’s latest report revealed on Tuesday.

According to the multilateral agency’s annual report on business environment rankings, South Korea ranked fourth out of 189 member countries, up a notch from last year’s rank.

The World Bank report ranks the economies in 10 categories. South Korea moved up in ease of registering property (79th to 40th), protecting minor investors (21st to 8th), enforcing contracts (4th to 2nd) and resolving insolvency (5th to 4th).

However, it slipped in starting a business (12th to 23rd), dealing with construction permits (12th to 28th), getting credit (36th to 42nd), paying taxes (25th to 29th) and trading across borders (4th to 5th).

This is the highest ranking since it joined the World Bank ― only next to Singapore, New Zealand and Denmark, the top three. Hong Kong, which ranked third last year, slipped two notches to the fifth place this year.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)