A recent survey revealed that more than half of the citizens in eight countries, including the U.S. and Japan, believe that the denuclearization of North Korea is not realistically achievable.
The Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) released the findings of its “2024 Global Unification Awareness Survey” during a seminar held in Seoul on December 3.
The survey, conducted by ISUS and Korea Gallup, was carried out online between September and October with a proportional panel of participants across various genders, ages, and regions. A total of 9,000 citizens from 8 countries—2,000 from the United States and 1,000 each from Japan, Germany, Vietnam, Poland, the UK, France, and Australia—took part.
According to the survey results, with a margin of error of ±1.02 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, 20% of respondents stated that the possibility of North Korean denuclearization was “completely impossible,” and 37% said it was “unlikely,” bringing the total percentage of negative responses to 57%. Only 28% expressed optimism about the possibility of denuclearization, while 15% were unsure.
Additionally, 67% of respondents believed that North Korea should abandon its nuclear weapons development, while 16% felt it was unnecessary for North Korea to do so.
BY EUNBIN KIM, YOUNGNAM KIM [kim.youngnam@koreadaily.com]
