It was found that the MZ generation (millennials + generation Z) had a lot of sympathy for the need to improve Korea-Japan relations.
The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) announced on the 27th the results of a survey on the perception of Korea-Japan relations among the young generation (626 people), which was recently conducted by the opinion polling agency Mono Research.
According to this survey, more than 70% of the MZ generation responded that Korea-Japan relations need to be improved. It is analyzed that this is because the MZ generation considers the future value more important than the past.
Regarding the reason why Korea-Japan relations need to be improved, the MZ generation answered ‘expansion of mutual economic benefits through cooperation between the two countries’ (45.4%). This was followed by ‘containing China’s rise through mutual cooperation’ (18.2%), ‘not feeling the need for it’ (16.4%), and ‘strengthening security cooperation in Northeast Asia, including responding to North Korean nuclear weapons’ (13.3%).
The younger generation’s impression of Japan was also found to be higher in ‘positive’ than ‘negative’.
42.3% of the total respondents (44.7% in their 20s, 39.7% in their 30s) said they had a positive impression of Japan, far more than 17.4% (14.3% in their 20s, 21.0% in their 30s).
In particular, more than half of the respondents, 51.3% (43.3% in their 20s and 60.2% in their 30s) responded that they had visited Japan.
For the purpose of visiting Japan, ‘tourism/travel’ was the most common at 96.4% (96.0% in their 20s, 96.8% in their 30s). In addition, 51.3% of the respondents (49.9% in their 20s and 52.9% in their 30s) thought that ‘exchanges such as visits to Japan have a positive effect on Korea-Japan relations’.
The young generation’s liking for Japan was 5.7 points (out of 10 points), indicating that they had an above-average liking for Japan.
Regarding the value that should be considered first for improving Korea-Japan relations, the younger generation put emphasis on the ‘future’ (54.4%) rather than the ‘past’ (45.6%).
As issues to be worked on for future-oriented bilateral relations, they cited ‘efforts to create a common historical awareness between Korea and Japan (41.6%)’ and ‘strengthening economic and industrial cooperation between the two countries (32.0%)’.
In addition, in order for Korea-Japan relations to move forward in a future-oriented way, the most common response was that ‘the issue of past history should be resolved from a long-term perspective while pursuing the future’ (48.9%).
Regarding the third-party subrogation plan, which is being discussed as a solution to the forced labor issue (a plan to compensate victims with donations voluntarily made by private companies and companies in both countries), more than half (52.4%) of young people in their 20s and 30s said ‘when promoting related measures, It will have a positive impact on Korea-Japan relations.”
Kim Bong-man, head of the International Headquarters of the Federation of Korean Industries, analyzed, “As exchanges between the two countries increased, such as trips to Japan, positive impressions of Japan were overwhelmingly higher than negative ones, and there was a large degree of sympathy for improving bilateral relations.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.