More defectors say S. Korea likely to use force against N. Korea

SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Yonhap) -- More North Korean defectors in South Korea now believe the South is likely to use force against its northern rival, a survey showed Wednesday, reflecting recent military tensions on the peninsula.
According to the survey of 114 North Korean defectors, 31 percent of the respondents said South Korea is highly likely to retaliate with force, while another 31 percent said the chances are relatively high. The corresponding figures from the same poll in 2008 were 9.9 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively, according to the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University.
This year's results seem to indicate the public's sense of South Korea's toughened military stance against North Korea following Pyongyang's deadly attacks against Seoul last year. A total of 50 South Koreans were killed in the artillery shelling of the front-line island of Yeonpyeong last November and the sinking of the warship Cheonan in March of last year.
Meanwhile, only 35.4 percent of the defectors said they were "very pessimistic" about North Korea's ongoing hereditary power transfer, down from 62.5 percent in 2008. The Pyongyang regime is also likely to last for at least another 30 years, according to 8.1 percent of the respondents, while only 6.9 percent thought so in 2008.
The Koreas remain in a technical state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.