Report on the Main Results of the 4th Korea-Japan Joint Perception Survey

Survey Overview

The East Asia Institute (EAI), a private think tank in Korea, and Genron NPO, a certified NPO in Japan, conducted a survey on the mutual perceptions of the Korean and Japanese publics from June to July 2016. The objective of this survey is to continuously grasp the current status and changes in the understanding and perceptions of the people of both countries towards each other, thereby resolving the various perceptual differences between the publics of the two nations and promoting mutual understanding. The results of this survey are utilized by being presented and discussed at the 'Korea-Japan Future Dialogue,' a private dialogue between Korea and Japan, held on September 2nd.

The public opinion survey on the Korean side was conducted from June 16th to July 5th among men and women aged 19 and above across the country, using face-to-face interviews by surveyors. The number of valid responses collected was 1,010. The gender distribution of respondents was 49.5% male and 50.5% female. The educational attainment of respondents was as follows: 7.5% elementary school or below, 10.2% middle school, 37.5% high school, 12.1% currently attending or dropped out of college (including junior college), 31.8% college graduates, and 0.8% graduate school graduates. The age distribution was: 1.8% under 20, 16.1% aged 20-29, 17.8% aged 30-39, 20.9% aged 40-49, 20.0% aged 50-59, and 23.4% aged 60 and above. The public opinion survey on the Japanese side was conducted from June 18th to July 3rd among men and women aged 18 and above in Japan, using the mail-back method. The number of valid responses collected was 1,000. The gender distribution of respondents was 48.8% male and 51.2% female. The educational attainment was: 8.0% middle school, 47.0% high school, 19.9% junior college/vocational school, 22.3% college graduates, and 1.5% graduate school graduates. The age distribution of respondents was: 3.0% under 20, 11.7% aged 20-29, 15.1% aged 30-39, 16.9% aged 40-49, 14.4% aged 50-59, and 38.9% aged 60 and above.

1. Impression of the Other Country

1 - 1. Impression of the Other Country

The impressions of the Korean and Japanese publics towards each other's country remain unfavorable but show a trend of improvement.

The percentage of Koreans who responded that their impression of Japan is 'not good' was 61.0%, which is still high, but it has improved significantly by more than 11 percentage points compared to 72.5% last year. The proportion of those who responded 'good' also increased from 15.7% last year to 21.3%, indicating a halt in the deterioration of sentiments.

Conversely, 44.6% of Japanese respondents indicated that their impression of Korea is 'not good' ('generally not good,' hereinafter the same). According to this survey, the figures were 37.3% in 2013, 54.4% in 2014, and 52.4% in 2015, showing a worsening trend. However, this year, the percentage dropped below 50%, indicating an improvement. The proportion of those who responded 'good' ('generally good,' hereinafter the same) was 29.1%, an improvement from 20.5% in 2014 and 23.8% in 2015.

1 - 2. Reasons for Positive/Negative Perceptions

For both publics, the issues of 'history' and 'territory' negatively impact their impressions of the other country. However, the impact of negative perceptions regarding the words and actions of political leaders is decreasing in both countries.

The most frequent reason cited by Koreans for their negative impression of Japan, as in the previous year (74.0%), was 'because they do not properly reflect on their history of invading Korea,' with 76.3% of respondents choosing this option. The 'territorial issue' also received a high response rate at 70.1% (69.3% last year), indicating that these two reasons are prominent as in previous years. A significant change observed over the past year is the decrease in the reason for negative impressions attributed to 'the words and actions of Japanese political leaders,' which fell by 10 percentage points from 24.7% last year to 14.6% this year. This suggests an improvement in the evaluation of political leaders' conduct. However, the response 'because Japanese people have different motivations and true intentions' increased from 16.7% last year to 24.2% this year.