Koreans' favorability toward Japan hits highest level since 2013

After taking office, President Lee Jae Myung made it a point to develop amicable ties with Japan, and it seems the people of Korea are beginning to share the sentiment.

Favorability toward Japan among Koreans has reached its highest level since 2013, with positive assessments of bilateral relations nearly doubling over the past year to surpass the 50 percent mark, according to the 13th Korea-Japan Joint Public Opinion Poll, jointly conducted by the East Asia Institute (EAI) and the International House of Japan.

The survey was conducted online from July 20 to 21 among 1,547 Koreans aged 18 or older. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level. A separate online survey of 1,552 Japanese aged 18 or older was also conducted from July 17 to 21 at a 95 percent confidence level, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. 

Among the respondents, 54.3 percent said they had a favorable impression of Japan, up 1.9 percentage points from 52.4 percent last year. Those with an unfavorable impression accounted for 38.5 percent.

Favorability plunged to 12.3 percent in 2020, when relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply over Korea's court rulings on compensation for victims of Japan's wartime forced labor and export restrictions by Tokyo, but has since rebounded.

Japanese views of Korea also improved. The share of Japanese respondents with a favorable impression of Korea rose to 35.3 percent from 24.8 percent a year earlier, an increase of 10.5 percentage points in just a year.

Koreans also expressed a more positive view of bilateral ties. The proportion of respondents who described relations as "good" nearly doubled to 20.6 percent from 10.6 percent last year.

Public opinion also shifted on the link between historical disputes and future cooperation.

More Koreans agreed that "If the two countries build a future-oriented, cooperative relationship, historical issues will gradually be resolved” at 42.2 percent, outweighing the view that "Without resolving historical issues, future-oriented cooperation between the two countries will be difficult” at 34.1 percent.

This put the gap between support for a more pragmatic approach and a history-first view at 8.1 percentage points this year, up from 4.9 percentage points last year.

Support for expanding Korea-Japan security cooperation beyond its current level also increased: 47.9 percent of Korean respondents backed closer security cooperation, up from 42.9 percent a year earlier.

The growing people-to-people exchanges through travel, shopping, food and popular culture were a major driver of the shift.

Among Koreans with favorable views of Japan, the most commonly cited reasons were "the Japanese people's friendliness, cleanliness and respect for order” at 66.9 percent, and "Japan’s attractive food culture, shopping and travel opportunities" at 43.9 percent.

Negative perceptions, however, continued to be driven by historical and territorial issues.

Among Korean respondents, 74.9 percent said an insufficient reflection by Tokyo on its 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea as a factor toward their unfavorable impression of Japan, followed by the Dokdo dispute at 46.9 percent and the unresolved issues surrounding wartime sexual slavery and forced labor at 42 percent.

The improved public sentiment in both countries comes as the two leaders continued shuttle diplomacy, a perhaps surprising development by two leaders once considered hard-liners; President Lee has previously taken a tough stance toward Japan, while Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has long been regarded as a staunch conservative within the Liberal Democratic Party, which has historically maintained a nationalist stance on issues such as Dokdo and wartime reparations.

Views of the two leaders themselves, however, remained mixed.

Among Koreans, 43.7 percent said they had an unfavorable impression of Takaichi, compared with 29 percent who viewed her favorably.

Still, her favorability rating was significantly higher than those of several recent Japanese prime ministers. Koreans' favorability toward late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Takaichi's mentor, remained between 1 percent and 4 percent throughout his time in office. Positivity rose to 3.1 percent under Yoshihide Suga and to 18.4 percent during Fumio Kishida's premiership.

Last year, under Ishiba, the figure reached a record 32.5 percent. Takaichi's favorability rating of 29 percent, the second highest among Japanese prime ministers since Abe left office, came despite her reputation as his political successor.

Her pragmatic approach after taking office, including avoiding sensitive historical issues and focusing on shuttle diplomacy, may have softened negative perceptions.

Japanese views of Lee also improved.

The share of Japanese respondents with an unfavorable impression of him fell to 29.6 percent from 39.2 percent last year, suggesting that both leaders' images have moderated since taking office.

While the readings invite optimism that ties will continue to improve, there is still room for more thawing, according to Sohn Yul, a distinguished research fellow at EAI.

"Both President Lee and Prime Minister Takaichi are seen as a mix of hard-liner and pragmatist, and that ambiguity has delayed improvements in how they are viewed by people in the other country," Sohn said.

"The remaining challenge is to dramatically expand people-to-people exchanges between younger generations and for political leaders to move beyond the fixed perceptions of older generations to build a relationship suited to a new era.”

BY YOON JI-WON [[email protected]]