SEOUL, December 11 (AJP) - Nearly eight out of 10 South Koreans prefer sharing the border with North Korea peacefully over a unified Korea, a latest survey showed.
According to a survey released Thursday by the Ministry of Unification, 79.4 percent of respondents said that peaceful coexistence without war outweighs the goal of unification. Among them, 37.1 percent strongly agreed and 42.2 percent somewhat agreed.
Support was also high for acknowledging the two Koreas as separate states coexisting peacefully, with 69.9 percent backing the idea — including 22.5 percent strongly in favor and 47.3 percent somewhat in favor.
Perceptions of North Korea were mixed as 64.6 percent agreed to the regard of North Korea as a separate state, while others disagreed, with 42.6 percent consider the country as a partner for cooperation, 23.8 percent as a threat, 22.6 percent as an adversary, and 8.4 percent as a recipient of aid.
Still a combined 62 percent of respondents called unification necessary, with 32 percent saying it is very necessary and 30 percent saying it is somewhat necessary.
Public awareness of North Korea’s recently promoted “hostile two-state theory” was high: 80 percent said they were familiar with the concept, and 77.8 percent viewed it negatively.
The survey was conducted by Gallup Korea from Dec. 2 to 8, interviewing 1,005 adults aged 18 and older nationwide by phone. The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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