Date

November 18, 2014

Page

1

Contact

Ms Heesun Kim

Office

02-3701-7387

E-mail

communications@asaninst.org

* For Immediate Release

Majority Support for the Korea-China FTA

From November 14-6, 2014 the Asan Institute for Policy Studies conducted a public opinion survey on attitudes towards the recently signed Korea-China FTA.

A slim majority (54.3%) supported the Korea-China FTA. In May 2012, support for a Korea-China FTA was 46.5%.

While 37.7% thought China would benefit most from the FTA, 37.7% thought Korea and China would benefit equally. Only 11.5% thought Korea would benefit most. In July 2014, 21.5% thought China would benefit most. While 48.9% thought both countries would benefit equally, 6.7% thought Korea would benefit most.

In comparison, 44.0% thought the US benefitted more from the Korea-US FTA. While 28.0% thought both countries benefitted equally, 13.3% thought Korea benefitted most.

Despite overall support, 60.2% wanted the National Assembly—which must still ratify the agreement—to investigate the agreement carefully. Only 20.6% thought it should be ratified as quickly as possible.

The country of origin effect was noticeable in the data. 58.1% stated that if a product were made in China it would negatively affect their desire to purchase the product.

If a food product were made in China, 75.2% stated this would negatively influence the intention to purchase the product.

On a potential FTA with Japan, 44.1% thought it was necessary while 37.1% thought it was unnecessary.

The sample size of the survey was 1,000 people aged 19 and over. The margin of error was ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level. The survey employed RDD for landline and mobile telephones.