A recent survey by pollster Realmeter revealed a whopping 61.8 percent of Koreans opposed the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea, reports the online edition of Kukmin Ilbo.
Some 32.4 of respondents felt Korea would be fine even if the U.S. withdrew.
Perhaps most interesting is that with the exception of those in their 30s, all other age groups appeared to oppose a U.S. withdrawal.
Some 73.3 percent of those in their 50s noted their opposition to a U.S. withdrawal, while 67.6 percent in their 40s and 63.7 percent in their 20s likewise opposed the withdrawal of U.S. troops. On the other hand, only 38.8 percent of those in their 30s noted their opposition to a U.S. troops withdrawal, while 53.7 percent said Korea would be fine if U.S. troops withdrew.
In terms of gender, 65.9 percent of men opposed a U.S. troop withdrawal, while only 58.2 percent of women noted a similar opposition.
Party afflilation was also a factor. Some 41.4 percent of Uri Party members opposed a U.S. troop withdrawal, while 47.4 percent said Korea would be OK if U.S. troops left. Only 26.9 percent of supporters of the Democratic Labor Party opposed a U.S. troop withdrawal (probably because then they’d have nothing to bitch about 
), while 61.1 percent said Korea would be fine without the evil Yanks.
On the other hand, 70.6 percent of supporters of the Grand National Party opposed the withdrawal of U.S. troops, while 74.6 percent of Democratic Party supporters and 78.4 percent of the United Liberal Democrats People First Party noted opposition to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea.
A Realmeter official noted that more men than women opposed U.S. troop withdrawals, with young men in their 20s expressing particularly strong opposition to U.S. troop withdrawals. The official believed this to be because men—and young men in particular—were subject to military service.
The telephone survey was conducted on August 2. A random sample of 458 men and women over the age of 19 nationwide were surveyed. The margin of error was 4.6 percent.
8 Comments
A necessary evil = necessary + evil.
I submit to the UN a binding resolution calling for all future polls issued to South Koreans on whether USFK should stay or not to be phrased as follows:
Choose one of the following selections:
1) Overall, I like the US alliance and USFK should stay.
2) USFK is bad for Korea and should leave - eventually.
3) USFK is bad for Korea and should leave immediately/soon.
I submit that if they rephrased the question, they might have had different results.
Instead of “Are you opposed to the USFK leaving?”, they might have asked “Do you wish the USFK to leave? If so, when?”
In past surveys, the answer to the second question was: “Yes.” The answer to the second part of the question varied. However, the key point was that the majority wanted the US to leave BUT NOT JUST YET!!!
I want to have a t-shirt designed with “USFK/US” - the US and SK flags together with the US flag Xed out - and the phrase “A necessary evil = necessary + evil”.
Anybody know how I can get one?
Bah… I suck at linking stuff. Anyhow, you can design it yourself and print it out onto an iron-on transfer with an inkjet printer. Do a search in Google for ‘Avery 3271′ or ‘Avery 3279′ for the product info.
kalani:
In past surveys, the answer to the second question was: “Yes.” The answer to the second part of the question varied. However, the key point was that the majority wanted the US to leave BUT NOT JUST YET!!!
——————————————————————-
Yup, spoken like a true Frenchmen. They’re still not as crazy as the American Left. Which is a good thing.
n the other hand, 70.6 percent of supporters of the Grand National Party opposed the withdrawal of U.S. troops, while 74.6 percent of Democratic Party supporters and 78.4 percent of the United Liberal Democrats People First Party noted opposition to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Kore
—————————————————————–
Now, that’s interesting,
I thought GNP would be the strongest.
Why is the U.S.’s presence a necessary evil? Why is it necessary at all? What would be the possible downside of them leaving, considering the inability of NK to wage a peninsula-wide war?
Some 73.3 percent of those in their 50s noted their opposition to a U.S. withdrawal, while 67.6 percent in their 40s and 63.7 percent in their 20s likewise opposed the withdrawal of U.S. troops. On the other hand, only 38.8 percent of those in their 30s noted their opposition to a U.S. troops withdrawal, while 53.7 percent said Korea would be fine if U.S. troops withdrew.
Can someone explain this? Is it a problem with the poll? Why in the world would those in their 30s think so differently than any other group?