An official from Seoul’s Gangnam Ward removes the Japanese flag from among the national flags hoisted along a street on Aug. 2, 2019, in protest of Japan’s decision to enact broad new trade restrictions on South Korea earlier in the day. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 27 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea-Japan relations have deteriorated to a level where only 2 in 10 Koreans and Japanese say they like each other, but a majority of people still want diplomatic ties between the two countries to improve.
The Korea Economic Research Institute conducted a survey of 1,431 South Korean and Japanese nationals, in which twice as many respondents reported dislike towards each other compared to those who expressed fondness.
Only 16.7 percent of South Koreans were favorable towards Japan, in contrast to 48.1 percent who expressed dislike towards the country.
On the other hand, 42.8 percent of Japanese respondents also expressed dislike towards South Korea, twicde as many as those who were favorable towards the country (20.2 percent).
Another 35.2 percent of South Koreans and 37 percent of Japanese were disinterested in their neighboring country.
Despite the lack of fondness towards each other, 78 percent of South Koreans and 64.7 percent of Japanese still believe that the governments of both countries should cooperate.
Asked if they would visit the neighboring country following the end of the pandemic era, 58.4 percent of South Koreans and 28.3 percent of Japanese said ‘yes’.
However, both countries perceived each other as secondary or tertiary tourist destinations (Korea 68.6 percent, Japan 60.1 percent), rather than primary (Korea 24.2 percent, Japan 19.7 percent).
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
