6 in 10 Koreans against Moon’s attendance at Tokyo Olympics

A poll showed Monday that almost 6 in 10 Koreans were against the idea of President Moon Jae-in visiting Japan for the Tokyo Olympics next month.

Of the 500 people surveyed by Realmeter over the past week, 60.2 percent responded in opposition to the president’s visit to Japan, while 33.2 percent said they were in favor of the visit.

Among age groups, people in their 40s opposed the visit most strongly, with the rate reaching 71.5 percent. Unlike other polls, political inclination had a limited impact in people’s response, the pollster said.

The latest poll comes amid a prolonged diplomatic feud between Seoul and Tokyo over wartime history and trade. The two nations had attempted to ease tensions when Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga met in person for the first time at the G-7 summit held in the UK earlier this month, but their encounters did not lead to a bilateral meeting.

Amid a flurry of news reports on Moon’s possible attendance at the Olympics, mostly coming from Japan, Seoul’s Cheong Wa Dae has reiterated they have not yet started related discussions.

Moon took office in May 2017 and visited Tokyo in May 2018 for a trilateral meeting with his Japanese and Chinese counterparts. A South Korean president has not visited Japan for a bilateral summit since 2011. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Korea in 2018 when he attended the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in Gangwon Province.

For now, French President Emmanuel Macron is the only head of state who has confirmed his attendance at the Tokyo Olympics. France will host the next summer Olympics in 2024 in Paris.

Earlier in the day, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun daily reported that the US is considering sending first lady Jill Biden, instead of President Joe Biden, to represent the country during the Tokyo Olympics, and that she is expected to hold a meeting with Suga during the visit. 


By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)