Survey on Japanese-South Korean Relations
Here is the understatement of the month; that Japanese and South Koreans don’t trust each other:
A record-high 59 percent of Japanese believe ties with South Korea have been strained in the past year, and more than half of Japanese regard the country as untrustworthy, according to a joint survey by The Yomiuri Shimbun and major South Korean daily Hankook Ilbo.
Regarding the current state of bilateral relations, 36 percent of Japanese respondents gave positive responses, a plunge of 24 percentage points from a similar survey conducted last year. However, the proportion of Japanese gloomy about ties with Seoul leaped 24 percentage points to 59 percent, the highest figure in five surveys conducted since 1995.
Here is what the survey determined of what South Koreans think of the Japanese:
According to the survey, many South Koreans were critical of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to Yasukuni Shrine and most were pessimistic that the countries could resolve their dispute over the Takeshima islets (called Dokdo in South Korea). The Yasukuni and Takeshima issues appear to have cast a shadow over public sentiment in the two countries and tainted perceptions of the other, according to the survey.
In late June and early July, 3,000 eligible Japanese and 1,000 eligible South Korean voters were surveyed by the newspapers. Of the Japanese, 1,867, or 62.2 percent, gave valid responses.
In South Korea, only 12 percent of respondents thought bilateral ties were good while 87 percent said the relationship was strained. The figures were almost unchanged from the previous survey.
My only questions with these results are, who the hell are the 12% who think things are going well for the Korea-Japan relationship? I haven’t met a Korean yet that thinks relations are good between Japan and Korea, but according to this survey they are out there.
Read the rest of the article for more survey results that pretty much confirm everything you already suspected about various issues between Japan and Korea.
