Summit embraced in poll, but there is division over the details

Most Koreans welcome the second inter-Korean summit, but their opinion is more divided over other issues, including whether it will influence December’s presidential election, according to a poll taken by the JoongAng Ilbo just after Wednesday’s announcement.
A sweeping 80.5 percent said the summit between Seoul and Pyongyang was good news, while only 14.9 percent said it was not. In a similar poll conducted in 2000 after the announcement of the first inter-Korean summit, 78.1 percent said they welcomed the news.
In the latest poll, the disagreements came in the details.
More than 53 percent of the respondents said it was inappropriate to hold a summit only four months before a presidential election. However, another 44 percent said they did not think it was a problem.
More than 55 percent said they agreed with the criticism that Kim Jong-il should have come to Seoul, as he agreed to do in the 2000 summit in Pyongyang, while 42 percent said it did not matter.
President Roh Moo-hyun agreed to visit Pyongyang Aug. 28 to 30.
More than half of the respondents said the summit would affect the presidential election, with 9 percent saying it would be “very influential” and 42 percent saying it would be “somewhat influential.” Another 41.7 percent said it is “not very influential.”
More than 58 percent said the presidential candidates from the liberal bloc will benefit from the summit, while only 8 percent said it could hurt them. In contrast, they responded that the summit was bad news for the Grand National Party, particularly Park Geun-hye, whose father, former President Park Chung Hee, was an anti-communist dictator.
More than 50 percent said the summit will hurt Park, while 46 percent said it will work against Lee Myung-bak.
A total of 725 people were surveyed by telephone for the poll. It has a 95 percent confidence level and the margin of error was plus or minus 3.6 percent.

By Shin Chang-woon JoongAng Ilbo/ Lee Min-a Staff Writer [mina@joongang.co.kr]