What Do South Koreans Think About Reunification?

This Wednesday, people living in Seoul woke up in panic after hearing a frighteningly loud alert coming from their phones. It was an emergency text message sent from the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

And it wasn’t only the phone. Sirens were ringing outside as well, saying everyone needed to get ready for evacuations.

The alert turned out to be a mistake. North Korea tried to launch a space launch vehicle, which ended in failure. But, this happening reminded South Koreans something: the war between South Korea and North Korea is NOT technically over.

At this point, one question comes to mind: What do Koreans think about reunification?

Back in the day, there was even a song called “Our wish is reunification”, which people these days don’t really know about anymore.

Here are some statistics related to the reunification

As you can see in the photo above, less than 50% (46%) of the participants said that the reunification is necessary. The three main reasons why the two nations shouldn’t be reunited was 1) An economic burden, 34.1% 2) Differences in the political system between the two nations, 21.5% 3) Social problems of post-unification, 20.3%.

The percentage of South Koreans saying “reunification is necessary” is the second-lowest since the start of the survey in 2007. The lowest was in 2021, with a percentage of 44.6%.

What’s your opinion on the reunification of South Korea and North Korea?