Elementary, Middle, and High School Students Saying "Unification is Necessary" Drops from 63% to 55%

Images Associated with North Korea... 'War/Military' 31.8%
When Will Unification Be Possible... '5-10 Years' 31.3%
Reflecting the Stalemate in Inter-Korean and North Korea-US Relations in 2019

The proportion of elementary, middle, and high school students who think unification is necessary decreased from 63% in 2018 to 55.5% in 2019. This is interpreted as students' attitudes toward North Korea being negatively affected due to the deadlock in inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. relations last year.

According to the results of the "2019 School Unification Education Survey" announced by the Ministry of Unification and the Ministry of Education on the 11th, the percentage of students who responded that "unification is necessary" was confirmed to be 55.5%. This is a 7.5 percentage point (p) decrease compared to 63% in 2018, and a 6.7 p decrease compared to 62.2% in 2017.

In response to the question about "thoughts on North Korea (regime)," the percentage who answered "cooperation" was 43.8%, down 7.1 p from 50.9% in 2018.

Also, the image that comes to mind when thinking of "North Korea" was "war/military," which slightly increased from 29.7% in 2018 to 31.8% in 2019.

When asked about when unification might be possible, "within 10 to 20 years" was the most common answer at 29.3%. In 2018, "within 5 to 10 years" was the most common at 31.3%, but this figure dropped sharply to 22.2% in 2019.

An official from the Ministry of Unification said, "2019 was a year when North Korea-U.S. and inter-Korean relations were at a deadlock," adding, "Therefore, it is analyzed that students' expectations regarding North Korea and unification decreased."

Despite the contraction of optimistic prospects about North Korea and unification, the "peace and harmony image" of unification and the "Korean ethnic consciousness" showed a continuous increasing trend.

The proportion of respondents who described the "unification image" as "peace and harmony" steadily increased from 32% in 2017 to 33.9% in 2018 and 34% in 2019.

The percentage who answered "because we are the same people" as the reason why unification is necessary also increased from 14.7% in 2017 to 21.6% in 2018 and 29.1% in 2019.

This survey was conducted from October 21 to November 29, 2019, by mail and visit surveys targeting 69,859 people (66,042 students and 3,817 teachers) from 598 elementary, middle, and high schools.