A majority of citizens approve of Lee Myung Bak’s “reciprocity” policy towards North Korea.
On the 31st of January, Heraldbiz released the results of a public opinion poll carried out in conjunction with KM Research Institute on the 29~30th. According to the poll, 74.5% of total survey respondents said that they “approved” of the “policy of reciprocity towards North Korea,” 14.6% said they, “disapproved” and 10.9% said, “they did not know.”
The number of males (77.8%) who said they “approved” were slightly higher than the number of females (71.4%). In addition, 72.5% of those in their 20s, 80.1% of those in their 40s, and 73.8% of those over 60 showed equal rates of approval regardless of gender or age.
These results can be interpreted as a sign of distrust in the Roh Moo Hyun administration’s “Sunshine Policy,” which was endlessly criticized for “spoon feeding” the North despite its nuclear development. In contrast, the administration’s “Vision 3000: Denuclearization and Openness,” which proposes to send aid to the North only upon the fulfillment of denuclearization, has received positive feedback.
Regionally, approval in the Kyungnam region (90.9%), which also highly approved of President-elect Lee Myung Bak during the elections, trumped all other regions. But the Gwangju region, the home turf of former President Kim Dae Jung who is the original framer of the Sunshine Policy, showed a 57.1% approval rate and a 32.1% disapproval rate.
Simultaneously, related to the presidential transition team’s “merger and abolition of the Unification Ministry,” 52.7% of respondents “approved” and only 25.6% “disapproved.” This can be seen as the general consensus of the citizens and their criticism of “spoon feeding” these last 10 years.
In particular, the upper age groups in their 40s (58.7%), 50s (54.7%), and 60s (55.9%), compared to those in their 20s (42%) and 30s (49%), showed a stronger conservative inclination. Those in their prime exhibited the highest approval rate for the abolition of the Ministry. The disapproval rate in the South Jeolla and Kangwon regions were relatively high.
The survey was conducted through phone interviews of 907 adult male and female respondents over January 29~30th. The margin of error, based on a 95% standard of confidence, was ±3.3% points.
