Japanese more positive about relations with Korea: survey

SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- Japanese citizens view their country's relations with Korea 1.5 times more positively than Koreans do, a lawmaker said Thursday, citing a survey conducted by a state-funded history foundation.
In the survey of Korean and Japanese citizens' views of history, about 71.4 percent of Japanese respondents responded positively about relations between the two countries while only 46.8 percent of Koreans felt the same way, according to Rep. Kim Choon-Jin of the main opposition Democratic Party.
The information was submitted by the Northeast Asian History Foundation in Seoul to an annual parliamentary audit.
By age group, people in their 20s were the most gloomy of all age groups in both countries, with 61.5 percent of Koreans and 37.3 percent of Japanese responding negatively.
"The high rate of negative answers among South Korea's younger generation is because they have high accessibility to information and know exactly about Japan's sovereignty claim over the South Korean islets of Dokdo and its distortions of history," Kim said in a release.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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