Many younger South Koreans believe that North Korea was not responsible of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to a recent poll.
The survey, conducted by Seoul's major Joong-Ang Ilbo newspaper to mark the June 25 outbreak of the conflict, found that only 45 percent of South Koreans in their 20s believe the war was triggered by the North's invasion.
Some 61 percent of South Koreans in their 30s blamed North Korea for launching the war while 74 percent in their 40s and 82 percent in their 50s or older said North Korea was responsible.
About 16 percent of South Koreans in their 20s said the Korean War was jointly started by the United States and the Soviet Union, compared with only 5 percent of the people in their 50s or older who responded that way.
The young generation's perception of the Korean War seems to be based on a flawed understanding of history.
The survey found that only 46 percent of South Koreans in their 20s knew that the Korean War broke out in 1950. Twenty eight percent of those in their 20s said the war began in 1945, 7 percent in 1948, and 12 percent didn't know.
The survey also found that 42 percent of South Koreans said they believed another war could occur on the Korean peninsula, and many of them believed North Korea and the United States would be responsible for it.
"I was surprised that more than half of South Korean young people in their 20s did not know when the Korean War took place," said Kim Il-Young, a professor of politics at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.
Kim and other analysts say the young people's perception of the Korean War is largely based by anti-U.S. sentiment and the reconciliatory mood with North Korea rampant, especially among young South Koreans.
In a separate survey last year, 39 percent of South Koreans, mostly young people in their 20s, cited the United States as the biggest threat compared with 33 percent who listed North Korea. Another 12 percent cited China and 8 percent cited Japan.
North Korea has long claimed that "U.S. imperialists, hand-in-hand with their South Korean puppets, invaded the North and have continued to try to conquer the northern half of Korea thereafter."
On June 25 North Korea marked the 55th anniversary of the start of the Korean War by blaming the United States and warning that a nuclear war "may break out any time." Pyongyang urged all Koreans to oppose the presence of U.S. forces in South Korea.
