Positive image of N. Korean leader surges among S. Korean students: poll

The number of South Korean college students with favorable perceptions of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has surged about 10-fold following the historic inter-Korean summit talks in April, a poll released on Tuesday showed.

In the survey of freshmen at Kookmin University in Seoul, 48.3 percent said they came to have a positive image of Kim after his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27 at the border peace village Panmunjom.

Only 4.7 percent said they had such a favorable feeling towards the North's young leader before the summit talks.

The poll was conducted by Lee Chang-hyun, a journalism professor at the university, on 106 freshmen aged 19 to 21 before the summit and 89 freshmen after the summit. It has a margin of error of 9.8 percentage points and a 95 percent confidence level.

In keeping with the more than 10-fold increase in the positive image of Kim, the share of respondents with a negative image of the North's leader dived from 87.7 percent to 25.8 percent, the poll showed.

In the pre-summit poll, subjective thoughts expressed by the students about Kim included "dictator," "nuclear," "cruelty," "obesity," "violence" and "unpredictability," according to Prof. Lee.

In the post-summit survey, however, respondents described Kim with positive expressions, such as "frank," "magnanimous," "youthful," "humorous," "charming," "open-minded" and "fresh," the professor noted.

"It is the first time South Korean students have seen Kim Jong-un in a live broadcast. The historical event seems to have changed their stereotyped view towards him positively. Now appears to be a transition period," said Prof. Lee.

Regarding the image of North Korea, meanwhile, 66.1 percent of the respondents expressed negative feelings toward the North before the summit. But the share fell to 17.9 percent after the summit. Similarly, the proportion of people with a positive image of the North rose from 19.8 percent to 57.3 percent.(Yonhap)