Executive Summary 2025

 
The Asan Institute for Policy Studies has been tracking South Korean public opinion on international affairs since 2010. The Institute has released a report called “South Koreans and Their Neighbors” annually since 2014. “South Koreans and Their Neighbors 2025” reveals South Korean views towards neighboring countries, the ROK-U.S. alliance and U.S. forces in Korea, future relationships with the United States and North Korea, nuclear armament, prospects for U.S.-China competition, and South Korea’s strategic choices between the United States and China.

Overall, the 2025 Asan survey reveals a South Korean public that is increasingly united when it comes to dealing with its neighbors. The public have unambiguously turned against China, Russia, and North Korea while attitudes towards Japan are steadily improving, even if it was still lower than neutral sentiment. But the biggest shifts in 2025 were found in South Korean views of the United States. This was demonstrated by the four new records set this year, including the South Korean public viewing the United States as the most important country for South Korea’s economy (74.2%), support for the United States as the preferred future partner (85.8%), support for maintaining current U.S. troop levels (71.2%), and support for indigenous nuclear armament (76.2%). The figures reaffirm the bipartisan consensus about the centrality of the United States to South Korea’s security and prosperity but also highlight rising concerns about the future of President Trump’s foreign policy towards the Korean Peninsula.

The most recent survey was conducted in March 2025. The survey results below are based on a representative sample of 1,000 respondents (weighted) across South Korea.

The key findings are as follows:

Country favorability: Public favorability towards Japan rose to 4.52 out of 10, representing the highest rating in the Asan Institute’s polling, as the two countries mark the 60^th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2025. On a scale from 0 to 10, the United States continued to remain the most favored country of South Koreans at 5.92, albeit this marked a decline from 6.42 in 2024. China’s favorability stood at 3.13, showing little change from 3.25 in April 2024. North Korea was the least favored country at 2.56, while Russia’s favorability reached 3.15, marking a slight increase from 2.63 in 2024.

Leader favorability: U.S. President Donald Trump was the most favored leader of South Korea’s neighbors at 3.29 out of 10, slightly higher than the 2.26 rating he scored in 2020 in his final year in office, but representing a sharp drop compared to U.S. President Joe Biden who was rated 4.95 in 2024. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba came second at 2.77, almost the same as former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who was ranked 2.74 last year. Among the authoritarian leaders, Chinese President Xi Jinping was rated 1.85 (2.08 in 2024), Russian President Vladimir Putin received a score of 1.60 (1.34 in 2024), and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was the least favored leader at 1.22 (1.18 in 2024).

Economic cooperation: This year’s survey revealed record levels of public support for the United States as South Korea’s economic partner, alongside a record low for China. A historic high of 74.2% chose the United States, while only 22% identified China as economically important for South Korea. This marks a significant shift from 2014 to 2016 when around half or more of respondents viewed China as South Korea’s most important economic partner.

ROK-U.S. alliance: Public support for the ROK-U.S. alliance remains as strong and bipartisan as ever, with 96% of respondents agreeing that the alliance will be necessary for the foreseeable future, a figure that has never fallen below 90% over the past decade. Even after national unification, 82.3% of respondents think that the alliance will continue to be necessary, a figure that has never fallen below 80%.

There was a 5.8%p increase in support (71.2%) for maintaining the current 28,500 personnel U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). This likely reflects concerns about potential U.S. troop withdrawals during a second Trump administration. Support for the U.S. military presence remains steady at 80.1% (80.2% in 2024). There was a 10%p increase to 60.6% in respondents who think USFK will be needed even after unification, continuing an incremental rise over the past decade from 36.1% in 2014.

Nuclear deterrence and assurance: This year’s survey found record levels of public support for both indigenous nuclear armament (76.2%) and the re-deployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea (66.3%). Public support for acquiring an indigenous nuclear weapons capability increased by 5.3%p in 2025 to reach an all-time high of 76.2% (Oppose: 23.8%). This is the highest figure since the Asan Institute began surveying the issue since 2010 (min: 54.8%, max: 76.2%). In addition, public support for the re-deployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula also increased to 66.3% (Oppose: 33.7%).

Meanwhile, public confidence that the United States would use nuclear weapons to defend South Korea was virtually unchanged at 48.9% despite ROK-U.S. efforts to implement the Washington Declaration in the Biden administration’s final year to demonstrate more visible deterrence measures. When asked whether the United States would fulfill its pledge even at the risk of potential nuclear attacks against itself, fewer than one in ten South Koreans changed their view, with 41.8% agreeing.

U.S.-China competition: On taking a side in the U.S.-China competition, the South Korean public continues to overwhelmingly back the United States (85.8%) over China (14.2%) as a future partner. The gap continues to widen ever since the 2016-17 Chinese campaign of coercion against South Korea, when the public preferred the United States 59.5% to 32.6% for China.

A majority of South Koreans also continue to believe that the United States will be stronger than China a decade from now (53.2% vs. 12.7%), while roughly a third of respondents think they will be equal in power. The percentage predicting that China will be stronger than the United States in the future declined by 4.1% from 16.8% last year and is the lowest figure since this question was asked.

Contents

• ● Country Favorability 
• ● Leader Favorability
• ● South Korea’s Future Relationship with the United States 
• ● South Korea’s Future Relationship with North Korea 
• ● Most Important Country for South Korea’s Economy
• ● Most Important Country for South Korea’s Security 
• ● Necessity of ROK-U.S. Alliance 
• ● Necessity of the U.S. Forces in South Korea
• ● Desirable Size of U.S. Forces in South Korea 
• ● Public Confidence in U.S. Extended Deterrence 
• ● Attitudes Towards Developing Indigenous Nuclear Weapons 
• ● Attitudes Towards Reintroducing Tactical Nuclear Weapons
• ● Future Superpower 
• ● South Korea’s Future Partner