Foreign tourists are touring the Imjin River area at Imjingak in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 3 (Korea Bizwire) –Half of the citizens from eight countries regard the unification of South and North Korea as necessary, and North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons is cited as the top prerequisite for unification, a poll showed Tuesday.
A total of 50 percent of respondents said the two Koreas should be reunited again, with 23 percent viewing unification as a “must,” in the poll conducted by the Korea Institute for National Unification and Gallup Korea.
The survey was conducted online from September to October among 9,000 people aged 18 or older from eight countries — the United States, Japan, Germany, Vietnam, Poland, Britain, France and Australia.
The survey is part of South Korea’s efforts to muster global support for its liberal democracy-based unification vision laid out by President Yoon Suk Yeol in August. It marked the first survey of global citizens’ understanding of the Koreas’ unification, according to the unification ministry.
The poll results were released as part of a seminar on Korean unification and the international community, hosted by the research institute.
In the poll, only 30 percent of respondents said they did not agree with the necessity of Korean unification.
They chose “concerns about war or conflict during the unification process,” or “economic and social chaos after unification” as the main reasons for their skepticism about Korean unification.
This photo taken from an observatory in the South Korean border city of Paju, some 30 kilometers north of Seoul, on April 15, 2022, shows North Korean farmers tilling a field with tractors in the North Korean town of Kaepung on the western front-line border with South Korea as the North marked the 110th anniversary of the birth of the country’s late founder Kim Il-sung. (Yonhap)
Of the total respondents, about 40 percent viewed the possibility of Korean unification “positively,” while 46 percent viewed it “skeptically.” Those who were skeptical cited “social and cultural differences” between the South and the North or “nuclear threats” from North Korea as reasons.
A total of 48 percent of respondents said Korean unification should be based on South Korea’s free democracy, while 9 percent favored North Korea’s socialism, and 15 percent believed the two should retain their respective political systems.
Respondents most frequently cited “North Korea giving up its nuclear weapon development” as the top prerequisite for Korean unification, followed by easing the inter-Korean military standoff.
A majority of respondents, 67 percent, said North Korea should abandon its nuclear weapons development, although 57 percent believed the possibility is either unlikely or highly unlikely.
Of the total respondents, 63 percent stated that North Korea’s nuclear development poses mild to grave threats, more than double the 24 percent who said it poses little to no threats.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.02 percent, with a 95 percent confidence level.
(Yonhap)
