SEOUL ¨C The proportion of people in South Korea who have a good impression of Japan rose 1.9 percentage points to 54.3% in 2026 from the previous year, a survey by South Korean think tank the East Asia Institute showed Monday.
The reading hit the highest level since the survey began in 2013.
With multiple answers allowed, 66.9% of respondents with a favorable impression said that Japanese people are kind-hearted and prioritize maintaining order, while 43.9% said that Japan had an appealing food culture and shopping opportunities, according to the survey.
The survey found that 71.6% of respondents said they had visited Japan, signaling that an expansion of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries helped improve South Korean people¡¯s image of Japan.
On the other hand, 38.5% said that they had a bad impression of Japan.
The survey was conducted jointly with the International House of Japan, a nonprofit organization in Tokyo that surveyed Japanese people¡¯s views on South Korea.
The Japanese survey showed that 35.3% of respondents had a good impression of South Korea in 2026, up 10.5 points from the previous year.
Last year, the figure fell due to concerns over former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol¡¯s failed martial law bid at the end of 2024 and the inauguration of his successor, Lee Jae Myung, in 2025, who had been known for his hard-line anti-Japanese stance.
The latest survey was conducted in mid-July, covering people age 18 or over. It received responses from about 1,500 people in each of Japan and South Korea.
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