80% of Koreans want unification

By Kim Young-jin

Eight out of 10 South Koreans believe the country should eventually unify with North Korea, and more than half want the government to increase cooperation with the Stalinist nation, a poll showed this week.

In a joint survey conducted by The Korea Times and pollster Hankook Research, Monday, 79.4 percent of those polled supported eventual unification compared to 18.5 percent who did not. The remainder was undecided.

The Koreas remain in a technical state of war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice not a peace treaty. While a joint declaration in 2000 stipulates that the two Koreas will “resolve the question of reunification,” political and military tensions have blocked progress.

Among the respondents, 36.1 percent said reunification was a must, while 43.3 percent said it was something that “should” happen.

However, the poll showed that younger respondents felt less strongly on the need for unification. Eighteen percent of those between 19-29 years old, and 27.1 percent of those in their 30s, felt it was a must. The numbers compared to 41.4 percent of those in their 50s and 50.2 percent of those in their 60s who felt the same way.

On how Seoul’s policy toward the North, 55.5 percent of those polled supported expanded economic engagement with Pyongyang, compared to 40.2 percent who advocated an approach based on strengthened national defense.

Tensions have spiked during the tenure of President Lee Myung-bak, who maintained a reciprocity-based approach toward the North and a tough line on its nuclear weapons program. The North waged two deadly provocations against the South in 2010.

Nearly 61 percent of those between 19-29 and 68.3 percent of those in their 30s favored engagement, compared to 46.1 percent and 35 percent of those in their 50s and 60s, respectively.

All three contenders in the Dec. 19 presidential polls have expressed a willingness to increase engagement with the North. Analysts say this is partly based on the calculation that in the absence of inter-Korean relations, the North’s has been driven deeper into the arms of its main ally, China.

Concerns have risen in recent years over the growing economic and cultural guide between the impoverished North and the increasingly cosmopolitan South. Some point to challenges faced by many North Korean defectors in adjusting to society here as a sign that more work is necessary to prepare for unification, which is projected to cost between $50 billion and $224 billion.