ADRN

Yasushi Kudo (right), head of Genron NPO, holds a news conference in Seoul on Thursday along with officials

of the East Asia Institute think tank. | KYODO

 

Nearly 60 percent of Japanese and around 70 percent of South Koreans told a recent survey they are concerned about deteriorating public sentiment against each other and that efforts should be made to improve them.

 

The poll by the Japanese citizens’ group Genron NPO and the South Korean think tank East Asia Institute found that 54.4 percent of Japanese said their impressions of South Korea are either “not good” or “rather bad,” up 17 percentage points from a year earlier.

 

Slightly less than 71 percent of the South Korean respondents expressed negative sentiment, according to the survey conducted from late May through June on around 1,000 people each in Japan and South Korea.

 

The South Koreans attributed their unfavorable views to history issues and the territorial dispute over the pair of outcroppings known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, while around 74 percent of the Japanese cited South Koreans’ “continued criticism of Japan about history and other issues.”

 

There was a noticeable difference over a potential military conflict between the two countries.

 

While less than 10 percent of Japanese said they are concerned about a possible military conflict with South Korea, 40 percent of South Koreans predicted that there will be a clash with Japan within several years or in the more-distant future.

 

The survey was conducted amid the intense debate over Japan accepting the right to collective self-defense.

 

More than 60 percent of the respondents in both countries said their national sentiment is “substantially impacted by media reports” and that people don’t have opportunities to get to know each other on an individual basis.

 

Barely more than 20 percent of people in both countries said they have visited the other.

 

Yasushi Kudo, head of Genron NPO, cited the importance of private-sector efforts — including media organizations — to address the poor sentiment in each country.

 

“While the governments may continue to confront each other, there are some people who call for a level-headed approach to improve the situation among citizens,” he said.

 

The same survey was first conducted last year.