Announcement of the Survey Results on the Perception of the Federation of Korean Industries
The younger generation has shown agreement on the necessity of improving Korea-Japan relations. While emphasizing future-oriented economic values rather than the past, they also expressed the opinion that historical issues should be resolved from a long-term perspective.
The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) announced the results of the "Youth Generation Perception Survey on Korea-Japan Relations" on the 27th. Through the polling firm Monoresearch, they revealed responses related to the evaluation and outlook of Korea-Japan relations from 626 young people of the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z).
In this survey, 71% of the younger generation answered that improving Korea-Japan relations is necessary. Since the inauguration of the new government, many (58.0%) felt there has been no change in Korea-Japan relations. The most cited reason for the need to improve relations was "expanding mutual economic benefits through bilateral cooperation (45.4%)." This was followed by "checking China's rise through mutual cooperation (18.2%)," "not feeling the necessity (16.4%)," and "strengthening Northeast Asian security cooperation such as responding to North Korean nuclear threats (13.3%)."
The younger generation had a positive perception of Japan. Among all respondents, 42.3% chose a positive impression, which was 2.4 times higher than the negative impression (17.4%). The favorability rating toward Japan among the youth was 5.7 points out of 10, above average. 51.3% of respondents said they had visited Japan, with tourism and travel (96.4%) being the most common purpose. Also, 51.3% of respondents believed that exchanges such as visiting Japan have a positive impact on Korea-Japan relations.
Regarding the values to consider for improving Korea-Japan relations, more respondents favored focusing on the future (54.4%) rather than the past (45.6%). To this end, the youth believe that "while pursuing the future, historical issues should be resolved from a long-term perspective (48.9%)." As for the third-party subrogation plan, which has emerged as a solution to the forced labor issue (a plan where private sectors and companies from both countries pay donations to compensate victims), 52.4% of the 2030 youth generation viewed it as having a positive impact on Korea-Japan relations.
Kim Bong-man, head of the FKI International Headquarters, said, “As exchanges between the two countries increase, such as through travel to Japan, positive impressions of Japan overwhelmingly exceed negative ones, and there is a high level of agreement on the necessity of improving bilateral relations.” He added, “Based on the positive perception of bilateral relations among the younger generation, the government should continue to make efforts to improve relations.”
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