Korea’s top 30 corporate brands were worth a combined 94.36 trillion won ($86 billion). Topping the list was Samsung Electronics, whose brand value accounted for one-third of the combined amount, according to Interbrand and Fortune Korea on Thursday.

Interbrand is a leading global brand consultancy that annually announces the world’s 100 best brands.

Jez Frampton, the chief executive at Interbrand, said that Korea was a key market driving innovation, and that was why Interbrand had eyes on Korea.

He added that from global corporate brands to Psy’s Gangnam Style, “Korea is changing the world.”

In another finding, the asset value of the top 30 brands of Korea accounted for about three-quarters of the figure for Japan for last year, when Interbrand selected the 30 top Japanese global brands that were worth 128.95 trillion won.

Industry watchers said Korea had widely caught up with Japanese brands, while at the same time, once-prominent Japanese brands such as Sony, Nintendo and Sharp had seen their brand value erode.

Following Samsung Electronics was Hyundai Motor, which recorded a total worth of 8.45 trillion won on the list, along with Kia Motor that was worth 4.62 trillion won.

Together, the three brands accounted for more than half of the total worth of the 30 brands.

Samsung’s affiliates also were included on the list of leading brands: Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Card and Samsung Corp. were among the five Samsung companies listed.

Hyundai Motor affiliates such as Hyundai Mobis and Hyundai Card could be seen as well.

Meanwhile, financial companies ― a total of nine including Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank and Shinhan Card ― made their mark by getting themselves listed despite a worldwide recession in the sector.

Companies engaging mostly in business-to-business activity such as POSCO, LG Chem and Hankook Tire also graced the list of most valuable brands.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)