{"id":2198933,"date":"2022-09-13T10:25:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T10:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2198933"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:11:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:11:37","slug":"perceived-threat-of-china-tempers-hostility-between-south-koreans-and-japanese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/09\/perceived-threat-of-china-tempers-hostility-between-south-koreans-and-japanese\/","title":{"rendered":"Perceived threat of China tempers hostility between South Koreans and Japanese"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Korea and Japan have never had particularly cordial relations, despite their strong democratic institutions and alliances with the U.S. There are emerging signs of improvement, however, both on the official and popular levels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Polls suggest that <\/span>publics in both countries<\/span><\/a> would like to see better relations.\u00a0While mutual levels of hostility remain high, this has declined over much of the past decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are a few likely explanations for improved perceptions between the two countries. The first is Shinzo Abe\u2019s retirement. He was a deeply unpopular prime minister in South Korea, routinely garnering 90% or more <\/span>disapproval ratings<\/span><\/a> among South Koreans \u2014 lower than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Seoul media portrayed him as a bellicose extreme right-wing nationalist intent on resurrecting Imperial Japan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not the case with current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is far less hated. The <\/span>majority<\/span><\/a> of South Koreans polled since he came to power late last year have <\/span>expressed neutral opinions<\/span><\/a> on the Japanese leader.<\/span><\/p>\n