01 June 2017

News Story: Poll shows 60 pct of S. Koreans negative about China's influence

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) -- Six in 10 South Koreans have a negative viewpoint of China's influence on their country, according to a poll released Wednesday.

In the poll of 758 adult South Koreans organized jointly by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies and several foreign institutions early this year, 60 percent negatively evaluated China's influence on South Korea, while those with neutral and positive opinions amounted to 25 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Institute officials noted that the ratio of negative perspective toward China nearly tripled from a similar survey taken two years ago. In the 2015 poll, the ratios of positive, neutral and negative opinions were tallied at 47 percent, 32 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

The survey was carried by global opinion research firm Ipsos from Feb. 23 to March 19 at the request of six institutions in five Asia-Pacific countries, including the Asan institute and the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, with a 95 percent confidence level.

Read the full story at YonhapNews