[EAI Public Opinion Briefing] 2026 EAI-IHJ 13th Korea-Japan Joint Public Opinion Poll

Editor's Note

The East Asia Institute (EAI), in collaboration with the International House of Japan (IHJ), conducted the 13th Korea-Japan Joint Public Opinion Survey. The results of this survey are presented in visual format in this "EAI Public Opinion Briefing." The survey findings reveal that South Korean respondents' favorable impressions of Japan, trust in Japan, and evaluations of the current Korea-Japan relationship all rose in tandem, each reaching record highs since the survey began — continuing an upward trend that started after bottoming out in 2020. Japanese respondents' impressions of Korea also improved, largely recovering the ground lost the previous year, though the improvement remained comparatively modest, suggesting the asymmetry between the two countries' perceptions persists. At the same time, South Korean respondents showed a marked decline in favorability toward and trust in the United States, while both Korean and Japanese respondents expressed strongly unfavorable impressions of and low trust in China. Taken together, the results suggest growing support for strengthened Korea-Japan security cooperation alongside a broadly positive outlook on the trajectory of the bilateral relationship.