A recent Chinese survey has revealed that three in ten people there believe that North Korean nuclear weapons development must be stopped even if it leads to military action.
Fully 32.2% of respondents in the survey, whose results were released by independent polling agency Horizon Key on the 26th, acknowledged the possibility of military action. However, the survey also showed that a larger percentage, 41.2%, disagree, believing that “a military conflict should be avoided in the process of stopping North Korean nuclear development.”
Elsewhere, a majority, 51.9%, supported economic sanctions to stop North Korean nuclear development.
The survey also revealed that the higher a respondent’s level of education, the more critical his or her view of North Korea were likely to be. 39% of respondents with a college degree agreed to military action against North Korea and 55.3% agreed to economic sanctions, both amounts greater than their corresponding totals from the wider survey.
General sentiment toward North Korea has also declined in recent years, the survey suggested. Just 61.4% of respondents said they had a positive feeling about North Korea today, fully 10% less than the 70.5% who said they felt good about South Korea.
The survey involved 1138 adults from twelve major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou. Sample sizes for each city were weighted according to city size.
