While 47.9 percent of Japanese citizens give it a thumbs up, just 28.1 percent of South Koreans look favorably on the deal, concluded in December, the poll showed.
The survey was conducted by private groups in Japan and South Korea, and 37.6 percent of South Koreans expressed unfavorable views about the bilateral deal over comfort women, a euphemism for women who were forced to provide sex to members of the imperial Japanese military before and during World War II. Many of them are from the Korean Peninsula.
Just 20.9 percent of surveyed Japanese said they did not like the deal.
The findings were released July 20 by the Genron NPO, a Japanese nonprofit group, and the East Asia Institute, a think tank in South Korea.
The two groups conducted the survey in June and July, respectively, and received 1,000 valid responses in Japan and 1,010 in South Korea.
Respondents were also asked about what is their impression of each other’s countries.
Those who said they have an unfavorable impression of South Korea accounted for 44.6 percent of all surveyed Japanese, 7.8 percentage points lower than the previous year.
Although 61 percent of South Koreans said they had an unfavorable impression of Japan, it was down 11.5 points from 72.5 percent in the previous year.
Asked to cite countries and regions important for their nations’ future, most South Korean respondents, or 47.1 percent, said China is important, followed by 39.8 percent who cited the United States.
While 65.9 percent of Japanese--the largest number--said the United States is important for Japan, only 8 percent said China is important.
Detailed results of the survey are available on the website of the Genron NPO at http://www.genron-npo.net/en/opinion_polls/archives/5304.html