Most Koreans Now Consider China Biggest Threat

Seven out of 10 South Koreans consider China the biggest threat to the country and the same proportion support acquiring nuclear weapons, a poll suggests.

In the poll of 1,006 people across the country by the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification, 71.9 percent of respondents named China as the biggest threat to South Korea other than North Korea. Next came Japan (21.1 percent) and the U.S. (6.3 percent).

The proportion who regarded China as a threat were equally distributed across political leanings with 67.9 percent among progressives, 76.1 percent among conservatives and 70.3 percent among centrists.

Some 59.6 percent said China does not want to see the two Koreas reunified. "The negative view seems to reflect people's worries about China's support of North Korea since the Korean War and its mounting challenges to the U.S.," the institute speculated.

Some 71.3 percent supported South Korea acquiring its own nuclear weapons. Asked which they would choose between nuclear weapons and the stationing of U.S. forces here, 49.6 percent backed the U.S. military presence and 35 percent nuclear armament.