Less than half of South Koreans now see unification with North as necessary: Poll

Less than half of South Koreans believe unifying the divided Koreas is necessary, a poll showed Wednesday, marking the second consecutive year that those in favor of unification fell short of 50 percent.

According to a poll conducted by the Korea Institute for National Unification, 48.2 percent of respondents said unification with North Korea is necessary.

The reading also marks a slight drop from 49 percent in 2025.

By age, over 60 percent of those born in 1960 or before said unification with North Korea was necessary, while less than 40 percent of those born in 1991 or later said they saw the need.

When asked if they agreed with an argument that unification will "not" be necessary if the two Koreas can peacefully coexist, 66.9 percent of respondents said yes, up from 63.2 percent a year earlier, according to the survey.

Also, 70.3 percent of respondents said they were not interested in North Korea, marking a 2.2 percentage point increase from last year and the highest figure since the institute began conducting the annual survey in 2014.

Additionally, 71.6 percent of those surveyed agreed that North Korea is a separate state.

The poll was conducted on 1,003 adults from April 2-24. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

Yonhap