Poll: Over 70% of South Koreans support maintaining or deepening South Korea-China relations

A poll commissioned by the Chinese Embassy in South Korea shows that more than 70% of South Korean respondents want South Korea-China relations to stay at the current level or become closer, and more than 70% also support economic, trade and scientific cooperation between the two countries.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Gallup Korea conducted a survey of 1,000 South Koreans from October 1 to 7 on their perceptions of China, covering groups of different ages, genders, regions and political leanings.

The survey has a confidence level of 95% and a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

On expectations for South Korea-China relations, 38.3% of respondents hoped to maintain the current level, while 35.5% hoped the relationship would become closer, totaling 73.8%.

On cooperation, 80.8% supported South Korea-China economic and trade cooperation, and 72.4% supported scientific and technological cooperation; another 46.1% said they were considering traveling to China.

On how to handle relations with China and the United States, 42.7% of respondents believed that South Korea should not take sides and should respond prudently to specific issues; 31.6% advocated balanced development of cooperation with both China and the United States.

The survey also showed that news media were the main channel through which respondents formed perceptions of China, accounting for 48.4%, followed by social media at 21.4%.

Among factors hindering the formation of positive perceptions of China, the largest share of respondents, 23.3%, chose "negative China-related public opinion"; this was followed by "differences in political systems" and "specific South Korea-China disputes," at 21.6% and 21.1%, respectively.

As for priorities for improving favorability toward China, 27.7% of respondents hoped the two countries would properly resolve differences, 23.4% hoped to reduce disinformation, and 20.1% hoped to increase tangible cooperation outcomes.

The Chinese Embassy in South Korea believes the survey results reflect positive changes in public opinion against the backdrop of improving South Korea-China relations and add confidence to deepening practical cooperation in various fields.

The embassy also said that eliminating cognitive biases about China and enhancing mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries still require joint efforts, and called on both sides to expand exchanges, deepen mutual trust, ensure that the fruits of bilateral relations benefit the people more, and make people-to-people connectivity a solid foundation for South Korea-China relations to reach a new level.