Over half of ROK people call for dialogue, compromise with DPRK: poll

SEOUL - More than half of ROK (The Republic of Korea)'s people called for the government's pursuit of dialogue and compromise with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), topping 50 percent for the first time, the state-run think tank survey showed Tuesday.

According to the state-run Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU) survey, 51.4 percent of respondents said the ROK's government should seek dialogue and compromise with the DPRK.

It surpassed 50 percent for the first time since the state-run institute began asking that question in the annual poll in 2016.

The result was based on a poll of 1,003 adults aged 19 or higher, conducted from April 5 to April 25. It had plus or minus 3.1 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.

Almost half of the respondents agreed to the thought that the DPRK wanted peace rather than confrontation with ROK, while 40 percent maintained a neutral stance, the survey showed.

Nearly two thirds of the respondents said ROK should maintain economic cooperation and exchanges with the DPRK even if political and military confrontations continue.

Those who positively see the resumption of two key inter-Korean economic cooperation projects, including the joint factory park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong and ROK people's tour to the DPRK's scenic Mount Kumgang resort, reached 60 percent and 62.7 percent respectively.

The Kaesong Industrial Complex and the Mount Kumgang tour have been suspended since 2016 and 2008 separately.

Support for ROK's humanitarian aid to the DPRK stood at 45.4 percent this year, up 4.6 percentage points from the previous year. The negative response to it was nearly unchanged at 26.3 percent.

Support for the reunification of the two Koreas declined to 65.6 percent this year from 70.7 percent a year earlier.

In 2018 alone, ROK's President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un met three times for summit talks, boosting hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The hope was weakened more or less after the second summit between the DPRK leader and US President Donald Trump ended with no agreement in February at the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.