Some 38 percent of South Koreans think China could emerge as their country’s biggest security threat in a decade,
according to a recent poll by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a state-run think tank.
The March 19 survey indicated that South Koreans are increasingly concerned about China's rapidly growing influence
while Seoul's anti-U.S. sentiment appears to be slowly easing.
Also, 81.7 percent of respondents described the United States as the most helpful to South Korea, followed by
distant runners-up China with 6.1 percent and Japan 4.5 percent. 5.4 percent cited North Korea as the most helpful
country to South Korea.
The survey, released March 19, showed that 37.7 percent think that China would be the biggest threat to South
Korea's security in 10 years, followed by Japan (23.6 percent) and North Korea (20.7 percent).
Only 14.8 percent of 1,000 South Koreans polled cited the United States as the country's biggest security threat in
10 years.
In a public opinion poll conducted in January 2004, 39 percent of South Koreans, mostly young people in their 20s,
cited the United States as the biggest threat, while only 33 percent listed North Korea, 12 percent cited China and
8 percent cited Japan.
More than 77 percent of those in their 20s, the age group that has expressed the most anti-American sentiments, said
the U.S. was most helpful to South Korea, reflecting conflicting perceptions of the United States.
As for factors behind South Koreans' strong anti-U.S. feeling, 24.2 percent of respondents cited crimes conducted by
American soldiers stationed in the country.