In a North Korean-Japanese War, South Koreans Would Support Pyongyang - Government Survey

A recent survey titled “The Situation in Northeast Asia and South Koreans’ Perception” found that in the event of a hypothetical war between North Korea and Japan, only 15.1% of South Koreans would support Tokyo. This figures came as a surprise to many, with Seoul and Tokyo maintaining significant defence cooperation and both adopting Western political and economic systems after being placed under American military rule from 1945. Over three times the number of South Koreans who stated they would support Japan said they would support North Korea - despite the two Koreas remaining technically at war since 1950. Pyongyang has notably vocally supported South Korea in all its recent disputes with Japan. Both Koreas were formerly placed under Japanese colonial rule in the period preceding their division, which lasted for 40 years from 1905.

Findings in the survey of public opinion in South Korea were presented at the Korea Institute for National Unification’s 11th annual Peace Forum. The survey was carried out by a government sponsored think tank and was conducted over a period of more than ten months. The findings come at a time of detente between the two Koreas, although tensions between Pyongyang and the United States have remained high. On November 5th, the day before the findings were announced, 71 members of South Korea’s National Assembly put forward a resolution calling for an official end the state of war between the two states.