Get a load of this disconnect:
Nearly half of Korean university students believe that the United States maintains the most hostile attitude toward the possible reunification of South and North Korea, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday.
According to the opinion poll conducted by the Advisory Council on Democratic and Peaceful Unification, 49.1 percent of respondents said among four surrounding powers _ the U.S., China, Russia and Japan _ the U.S. is the biggest barrier to national reunification. Japan came in the second with 35.7 percent.
The survey was taken part by 1,270 people nationwide on May 19-22, and the margin of error was plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Asked which country is most favorable to the reunification of the long-divided peninsula, China topped with 38.3 percent. Japan ranked last place with 7.4 percent.
OK, given the survey’s target, this had to be expected. What I didn’t expect, however, is this:
As for South Korea-U.S. relations, an overwhelming 87.1 percent complained about an unequal power relationship between the two traditional allies. However, more than seven out of 10 supported the continued presence of U.S. Forces Korea here.
How their heads don’t explode is beyond me.
Chosun Ilbo piece on this here.
3 Comments
oh, this is more of this “we are one people nonsense”. ask these little morons whether they are willing to pay for reunification and see what answers you get. when i used to ask this question of hogwan students -a few years ago mind you- most were all for reunification. when asked who would pay for the north korean upgrades -rail links, highways, telephone lines, factories-, when it was pointed out that the social costs of re-educating the northerners, many of whom are intellectually stunted by famine, suddenly the dmz looked a lot better and most of these pro-unification students found other things to talk about.
Ok, I’m sure I’m missing something here but can’t one have grievances about something while still understanding its necessity. (ie I’m frusturated with my arrogent coworker who does 35% of the work and gets a higher salary than me… but I would prefer him being around to the thought of doing all the work myself.) Not to say the this is the relationship between the US and ROK.
The survey results seem so schizophrenic because the students are trying to balance their hatred for the US and Japan, their fear of North Korea, and their fear of economic hardships.
The fact that China was picked as the country that most supports reunification tells me that the Korean media and the Korean education system have really screwed up Korea’s youth.