South Korea's Choice Amid US-China Conflict? 77% of Citizens Say "US Is More Important"

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] As the US-China conflict expands across global politics, security, and industry, 8 out of 10 South Koreans perceive the United States as more important than China. In terms of emotional favorability, the US was found to be nearly twice as favored as China.

On the 3rd, the Federation of Korean Industries conducted a survey titled "Koreans' Choice Under the US-China Conflict" targeting 1,010 South Korean adults aged 20 and above. When asked which country is more important to Korea overall, 77.7% of respondents answered the United States. Only 12.7% chose China.

From an economic perspective, 70.7% responded that the US is more necessary, about 3.6 times higher than China (19%). Regarding security and peace on the Korean Peninsula, 75.9% said Korea should maintain better relations with the US, compared to 16% for China.

Survey on the Choice of Koreans Amid US-China Conflict / Data=Federation of Korean Industries

The main reasons for choosing the US over China were shared values of liberal democracy and market economy (41.4%), accounting for nearly half, followed by the US as an important security ally for peace on the Korean Peninsula (35.9%), and strengthening cooperation with the world's largest economy (16.2%).

Those who chose China cited economic cooperation opportunities due to its massive market of 1.4 billion people (55.4%) as the biggest economic incentive. From a security perspective, 21.4% viewed China as an important partner for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

Regarding priorities in diplomatic policy toward the US, security issues were prominently mentioned, including strengthening the ROK-US military alliance cooperation (38.4%) and policy coordination for North Korean denuclearization (22.4%), followed by cooperation on restructuring global industrial supply chains such as semiconductors (19.4%) and joint responses to China's rise (12.7%). For diplomatic policy toward China, strengthening cooperation for Korean Peninsula unification (39.9%) received the highest response, followed by stable development of Korea-China economic relations (34.9%).

Meanwhile, South Koreans’ emotional favorability toward the two countries showed the US nearly twice as high as China. The US scored an average favorability of 6.8 out of 10, while China scored 3.5, indicating that Koreans feel emotionally closer to the US than to China.

Additionally, by age group, favorability toward the US was higher among those in their 20s (6.9) and 30s (7.0) compared to other age groups, whereas favorability toward China was lower among those in their 20s (2.8) and 30s (2.6) compared to the average, which is noteworthy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.