59% of Japanese People Say "Japan-South Korea Relations Will Not Change Despite Yoon's Election"

"Threefold Increase in 'Gets Better' Compared to Moon's Election"

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is having tea time with Ahn Cheol-soo, the chairman of the transition committee, at the president-elect's office set up at the Financial Supervisory Service Training Institute in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 14th. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Six out of ten Japanese citizens believe that Japan-South Korea relations will not change even after Yoon Seok-yeol is elected as South Korea's next president.

On the 15th, Japan's public broadcaster NHK announced the results of a nationwide telephone survey conducted from the 11th to the 13th, targeting 1,223 men and women aged 18 and over (valid respondents).

59% of respondents answered "no change" to the question, "Do you think Japan-South Korea relations will improve with the election of South Korea's new president?" 25% said "will improve," and 4% said "will worsen."

President-elect Yoon has pledged to progressively inherit the basic spirit and intent of the 1998 "Kim Dae-jung-Obuchi Declaration" (Joint Declaration on a New Japan-Korea Partnership for the 21st Century) and has expressed his willingness to improve Japan-South Korea relations.

However, within Japan, given the deep-rooted issues between the two countries such as forced laborers during the Japanese colonial period and the comfort women issue, the prevailing view seems to be that improving Japan-South Korea relations, which are at their worst level since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1965, will not be easy.

A similar atmosphere was observed in May 2017, right after President Moon Jae-in won the presidential election. At that time, 56% of respondents said "Japan-South Korea relations will not change."

However, compared to then, those who said "will improve" (7%) increased more than threefold, while those who said "will worsen" (24%) sharply decreased to about one-sixth.

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