Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
80 percent of high schoolers join 'Boycott Japan' campaign
High school students hold up "Japan boycott" signs during a news conference to declare their participation in a widening civic campaign of boycotting Japanese products in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Friday. Korea Times file
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Almost 80 percent of high schoolers surveyed are joining in a widespread boycott of Japanese goods, a poll showed Monday.
According to the survey by local education company Jinhaksa of 372 high school students conducted over a five-day period from Aug. 2, 78.2 percent of the respondents said they have been participating in the boycott.
For the motivations and reasons for joining the movement, 50.2 percent said they believed the Japanese government's decision to impose restrictions on exports of key high-tech materials to Korea was retaliation for a court ruling last year calling for Japanese companies to compensate surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.
Another 39.5 percent said they have been participating because they think the Japanese government has not apologized to the victims.
Among the respondents taking part in the boycott, 46.4 percent said they will not buy Japanese products at all, 30.2 percent said they will buy Japanese products in secret when they can't find alternatives, and 9.6 percent said they will go straight to Japanese products if they can't find alternatives.
About 20 percent said they are not bothered by others using Japanese products, while 18 percent said they feel betrayed, but 14.5 percent said they are convinced if the products' quality and price are reasonable.
More than 37 percent said they expect the boycott will last more than six months, while 17.5 percent said it will be over soon.
Meanwhile, banners promoting the boycott at five places in Busan were found to have been destroyed on Sunday, according to Busan Dongnae Police Office.
Police said they had found a post by someone online, who claimed to have destroyed the banners with scissors, and are pursuing the suspect based on CCTV footage.