South Koreans see US-China rivalry as bigger threat than North Korea: Poll

South Koreans perceive U.S.-China rivalry as a bigger threat to their country than North Korea’s nuclear weapons, a new survey suggests, while expressing caution about the direct involvement of U.S. troops on the peninsula in a Taiwan contingency.

The nationwide survey published by the East Asia Institute (EAI) also found that ROK citizens increasingly believe the DPRK could carry out preemptive nuclear strikes and that skepticism is growing about the reliability of the U.S. nuclear umbrella, despite widespread support for the alliance with Washington.