South Koreans call for "active dialogue" with Pyongyang, but remain wary
Seoul (AsiaNews) - The vast majority of South Koreans believe that President Lee Myung-bak must promote an "active dialogue" with Pyongyang. This is what has emerged from a survey commissioned by the Institute for Korean unification (Kinu), according to which 86.7% of the public supports the idea of "a new inter-Korean summit," modelled on those held in 2000 and 2007. Only 13.3% are against the proposal. However, the South Koreans overall image of North Korea is increasingly "negative".
The results of the survey - carried out on a sample of 1000 people - will be discussed next week at a conference at the Hotel Lotte in Sogong, a suburb of Seoul, and entitled "Results of the Lee Administration’s North Korea Policy Over the First Two Years and Its Future Direction”.
When asked to state the most desirable attitude for the government to take in inter-Korean relations, 54.1% said it should push dialogue. Another 27.6 % said it should make use of indirect methods through cooperation with the international community. On the other hand, 14.9% said it should adopt a passive policy of quietly waiting, while only 6.1% said it should continuously pressure North Korea. Kinu emphasizes that the general view of South Koreans to Pyongyang is of dialogue, very few, however, are firmly in favour of or hostility towards the Stalinist regime in the North.
However, the majority believes that the policy of President Lee - aid in exchange for the denuclearization of the peninsula - is useful for resolving the nuclear threat from Pyongyang (53% in favour, 47% against). The survey also indicates that that more respondents agree with the Lee administration’s current North Korea policy 58.4 % than disagree 41.6 %.
In general, the people’s views towards North Korea have also grown noticeably more negative under the Lee administration. Some 56.4 % view North Korea in a “negative light”, while 43.8 % remain “wary” of the country and 12.6 % say the country is “hostile”. This is diametrically opposed to the results in 2005, when only 31.1% responded negatively and 64.9% responded positively. The reversal of direction toward the North is justified by the inflexibility shown by the Pyongyang regime and the difficult relations between the two countries, often on the brink of conflict - at least in words - in the last two years.
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12/02/2016 15:14
