Koreans pick Japan as second-biggest military threat

(Yonhap) — South Koreans chose Japan as the country that poses the second-biggest military threat following North Korea, a survey showed Thursday, in an indication of Koreans’ discomfort with Japan’s stance on history and moves to expand the role of its military.

A total of 46.3 percent of Korean respondents selected Japan as the most threatening nation, trailing North Korea with 83.4 percent, according to the joint survey by the East Asia Institute in Seoul and Genron NPO, a Japanese think tank.

In a similar poll last year, Japan ranked third with 43.9 percent, following North Korea with 86.7 percent and China with 47.8 percent.

This year’s survey was conducted on 2,000 South Korean and Japanese adults in May and June. It had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence interval.

When asked the same question, 15.1 percent of Japanese respondents picked South Korea as the biggest threat, following North Korea with 72.5 percent, China with 71.4 percent and Russia with 29 percent, the poll showed.

But the respondents in both Seoul and Tokyo saw a low possibility of actual military confrontation.

The results come amid Japan’s review of its 1993 landmark apology over its wartime sexual enslavement of Asian women and its decision to exercise its right to collective self-defense.

When asked about their impression of their neighbor, 70.9 percent of Koreans surveyed said they have a negative impression of Japan, citing Japan’s refusal to apologize for past wrongdoings and Tokyo’s territorial claim to Dokdo.

A total of 54.4 percent of Japanese respondents had an unfavorable impression of South Korea, up 17.1 percentage points from the previous year, the poll showed.

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have deteriorated in recent years because of the latter’s stance on historical grievances and its territorial claims to the islets of Dokdo, which is administered by South Korea. Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910-45.