Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Chinese version: Nikkei Chinese Network) asked Japanese people about their “friendliness” towards various countries and regions in a public opinion survey conducted by mail in 2023. The number of people who answered “like” South Korea accounted for 37%, reaching the highest level since the survey was launched in 2018. This result is also considered to reflect the rapid warming of Japan-South Korea relations in 2023.
Yoon Seok-yue will take office as the President of South Korea in May 2022. Relations between Japan and South Korea, which had cooled under former President Moon Jae-in, have improved.
Japanese people’s friendliness towards South Korea has increased by 10 percentage points compared with the last survey conducted in 2022. The number of people who answered “dislike” South Korea accounted for 41%, a decrease of 10 percentage points. The proportion of people who “liked” South Korea dropped to 14% in 2019.
Analyzing the 2023 survey results, Shizuoka Prefectural University Professor Kojin Jin (Modern Korea Theory) said: “Since the Yoon Seok-wol administration came to power, reports on Japan-South Korea diplomatic friction have decreased, while reports on Japan-South Korea and Japan-U.S.-South Korea cooperation have increased. Therefore, the proportion of people who ‘dislike’ South Korea has decreased.”
There are differences across genders and generations. Among women, the proportion of people who “like” South Korea (41%) is higher than the proportion who “dislike” (34%). Among people in their 10s to 20s, more than half of those who “like” South Korea.
Xiao Zhenjin believes: “It overlaps with Korean pop music (K-POP) fans and Korean cosmetics consumer groups, and the influence of ‘Korean Wave’ also plays a role in increasing the response of ‘liking’ Korea.”
Koreans’ feelings toward Japan have also changed. A Japan-South Korea joint public opinion survey conducted by the Japanese non-profit group “Speech NPO” from August to September 2023 showed that 28.9% of Koreans answered “good impression” of Japan, and 53.3% answered “unfavorable impression” of Japan.
In 2020, the proportion of people who answered “good impression” was 12.3%, and the proportion of people who answered “bad impression” was 71.6%, which has improved over the past three years.
In the Nihon Keizai Shimbun survey, Japanese people’s friendliness towards Southeast Asian countries has also increased. The proportion who answered “like” Thailand was 58%, and the proportion who answered “like” the Philippines was 51%, an increase of 3 percentage points respectively. The proportion of people who like Vietnam (51%) and Malaysia (52%) also increased by 2 percentage points each.
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2024-02-18 03:41:07
