MBC news desk revealed the results of the survey on Sunday, conducted by Korea Research at the request of “Sisa Magazine 2580.” According to the phone survey conducted on Friday on 1,089 adults over the age of 20, 56.5 percent of the respondents opposed the additional dispatch of troops to Iraq while supporting opinion was 40.7 percent. It is the first survey to be conducted on the dispatch after the murder of Kim Sun-il.

According to the results, more people switched over to supporting the troops deployment rather than the other way around. 14.5 percent of the respondents answered that they came to agree with the dispatch due to the murder of Kim. 5.8 percent replied that they changed their opinions to oppose to the dispatch because of Kim’s death.

The results of this survey may be confusing. Compared to the survey conducted by the same company a month ago, people supporting the dispatch have increased.

The results of the survey conducted by MBC and Korea Research on the additional dispatch of Korean troops in May revealed that 60.7 percent of the people replied that the dispatch should be reconsidered, while 33.1 percent supported the dispatch, saying the dispatch should be done as scheduled.

Comparing the survey results from May and on Friday, people opposing the dispatch decreased 4.2 percentage point while opinions supporting the dispatch increased 7.6 percentage points.

Assuming that the survey results of MBC and Korea Research are exact, public opinions opposing the dispatch was over 60 percent in May and decreased in the meantime, and increased again from the kidnapping and murder of Kim Sun-il.

Also, 49.4 percent of the respondents at the survey conducted on Friday said that the Seohee and Jaema units should be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible. 44.2 percent replied that the units should remain.

Asked whether the United States knew about Kim’s kidnapping in advance, 82.9 percent replied, “The U.S. would have known beforehand,” reported MBC.

MBC also reported that public support of President Roh Moo-hyun's handling of state affairs went up to 41.5 percent right after the impeachment was dismissed, but rapidly fell to 28.2 percent right after Kim was killed.

(Chung Sung-jin, sjchung@chosun.com )