Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, right, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung shake hands during a Japan-South Korea summit meeting in the city of Nara on Jan. 13, 2026. (Pool photo)
SEOUL (Mainichi) — More than half of South Koreans now hold a favorable view of Japan, the highest level recorded since annual polling began in 2013, according to a joint public opinion survey released on Aug. 3 by a South Korean think tank and a Japanese foundation.
The survey, conducted in late July by the East Asia Institute (EAI) of South Korea and the International House of Japan (IHJ), found that 54.3% of South Korean respondents said they had a positive impression of Japan, up 1.9 points from a year earlier.
In the 2020 survey, conducted the year after Japan-South Korea relations deteriorated, the proportion of South Koreans with a favorable view toward Japan fell to 12.3%, but it has continued to rise since then. The percentage of those holding a negative impression of Japan has also declined, dropping from 71.6% in 2020 to 38.5% this year.
Among those expressing positive feelings toward Japan, the largest group, at 66.9%, cited “Japanese people’s kindness, cleanliness and respect for order.” This was followed by “food culture and shopping or travel” at 43.9%. “Popular culture such as manga and anime, music, novels and movies” was cited by 27.4% of respondents.
Japanese views of South Korea also improved, though negative perceptions remained more common overall. The survey found that 35.3% of Japanese respondents had a favorable impression of South Korea, up 10.5 points from the previous year, while 44.1% reported an unfavorable view.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, right, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung bond over drum performances in the city of Nara. (Photo courtesy of the Cabinet Public Affairs Office)
Japanese young people’s fondness for South Korea was far above the overall average. Among those aged 18 and 19, 75.8% said their impression was “good,” while the figure stood at 47.1% among those in their 20s. A total of 57.0% of Japanese respondents consider bilateral relations with South Korea important, a result that researchers attributed in part to a more challenging security environment in East Asia.
Among Japanese respondents with a positive view of South Korea, 53.6% cited “appeal as a travel destination, including food culture and shopping,” while 50.7% pointed to “popular culture such as K-pop and dramas.” The most common reason for negative impressions, at 49.3%, was “I feel that anti-Japanese sentiment and criticism of Japan remained strong in South Korea.”
EAI analyzed that the decline in favorability toward South Korea among Japanese people in 2025 was due to wariness over repeated criticism of Japan by President Lee Jae Myung when he was opposition leader. The institute said that “South Korean politics stabilized quickly, and an improvement of Lee’s image through shuttle diplomacy between the two countries’ leaders appears to have contributed to improved perceptions this year.” Positive impressions toward Lee rose 4.6 points from the previous year, while negative views declined by nearly 10 points.
(Japanese original by Motomi Kusakabe, Seoul Bureau)