Passengers head to Japan from Gimpo International Airport in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2022, as the neighboring country eased travel restrictions despite the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans’ negative emotion about Japan has eased and the rate of participation in the boycott of Japan declined, leading to a hike in demand for the Asian neighbor, a survey showed Sunday.
According to a survey of 1,000 Korean adults conducted by Embrain Public, the share of those who said they cannot forget the damage Korea suffered culturally and historically from Japan declined from 80.3 percent in December 2020 to 71 percent in December 2022.
The share of those who said they feel angry whenever they think about Japan also declined from 55 percent to 38.4 percent, while the share of those who said Japan is a hostile country fell from 49.9 percent to 36.1 percent during the period.
The share of those who said they had participated in the boycott of Japanese products slipped from 71.8 percent in 2020 to 60 percent in 2022.
Embrain interpreted the easing of anti-Japan sentiment as being impacted by the change in Koreans’ perception towards Japan and its citizens.
The share of those who said they would travel to Japan even if they don’t like the country rose from 28.2 percent in 2020 to 45.5 percent last year.
E-commerce platform Gmarket analyzed its trend of overseas flight bookings from Jan. 1-17 and found that Osaka, Fukuoka and Tokyo swept the top three spots in the ranking of most favored overseas destinations.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
