4 out of 10 South Korean youth say ‘reunification not necessary’

SEOUL – Four out of 10 students in South Korea believe that reunification between the divided Koreas is no longer necessary, a government survey showed.

The survey conducted in October 2023 by the Ministry of Unification involving 73,991 students aged six to 18 across the country comes amid escalating inter-Korea tensions. Pyongyang has conducted five rounds of cruise missile tests so far in 2024.

Some 38.9 per cent of the respondents said that reunification is “not necessary”, marking a record high since the survey was first conducted in 2014. The percentage of students who responded this way has steadily increased in recent years, at 24.2 per cent in 2020, 25 per cent in 2021 and 31.7 per cent in 2022.

The proportion who replied that reunification is “necessary” was 49.8 per cent, the first time the figure fell below the 50 per cent mark since 2014.

Students’ interest in reunification has also faded recently.

The percentage of respondents who said they were “not interested” in the issue of unification came to 28.3 per cent in 2023, increasing from 27 per cent the previous year. The figure was 20.2 per cent in 2020 and 22.4 per cent in 2021.

Negative perceptions of North Korea have also strengthened, with 80.6 per cent of students saying they were concerned about the possibility of military conflict on the Korean peninsula due to Pyongyang’s provocations.

While the percentage of students who viewed North Korea as a cooperative partner dwindled to 32 per cent, a 6.6 percentage point decline year on year, those who viewed Pyongyang as an adversary increased to 12.5 per cent, a rise of 1.6 percentage points in the same period.

“North Korea’s provocations have fuelled the South Korean students’ negative perceptions of reunification and North Korea in general,” the Ministry of Unification said.

The ministry pledged to “continue to raise the awareness of the need for reunification among future generations”. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK