More than 40% of residents in both Japan and South Korea consider the state of the bilateral relationship "good," significantly higher than in 2022, according to the latest joint survey conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun and South Korean newspaper Hankook Ilbo.
It is believed that moves toward improving relations at the government level since the Japan-South Korea summit meeting in March have been reflected in the perceptions of the two countries' peoples.
In the survey conducted from May 26 to 28, the percentage of those who said the current relationship between Japan and South Korea is good increased to 45% in Japan and 43% in South Korea, both up from 17% from the previous survey in 2022. It is notable that in Japan, this was the first time since 2011 that over 40% of the respondents answered that way. In South Korea, the figure ties with 1995 for the highest level among the 19 surveys conducted since that year.
