After years of mistrust leading to political tension between Seoul and Tokyo, it now seems that a large number of South Koreans are keen to bury the past and strengthen bilateral relations in the future.

Interestingly, now there is growing mistrust among South Koreans against the Chinese. 

Seoul based Yonhap News agency quoted a recent survey report saying that about 73.8 per cent of South Koreans have unfavourable views of China, up 14.4 percentage points from last year.  The survey has revealed that many of the respondents felt that Beijing lacks respect for Seoul and even showed their displeasure with China’s “coercive” behaviour.

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“According to the survey of 1,000 adults conducted by the East Asia Institute and Genron NPO, the rate of favorability toward China also came to only 10.7 per cent, the lowest ever since the think tanks first launched the annual survey in 2013,” the news agency said, adding that the figure was even lower than the 20.5 percent measured for the general impression about Japan.

The report also noted that the percentage of respondents who felt China posed “military threats" to South Korea also rose to 61.8 per cent from 44.3 per cent in the previous year. Interestingly, a larger number of South Koreans’ perception towards Japan has been favourably changing.

The percentage of South Koreans having a positive impression about Japan increased to 20.5 per cent from 12.3 per cent. That part, 46 per cent felt that Seoul and Tokyo should improve bilateral relations from "a forward-looking perspective."

An earlier BBC report noted that South Korea and Japan share a complicated history. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea.

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“The ongoing trade and political dispute between South Korea and Japan is tied to lingering wounds dating back more than 100 years,” it said.

While South Korea’s long-standing demand has been that Japan should pay for “what they consider to be appropriate reparations for atrocities committed during the Japanese occupation” between 1910 and 1945, Japan has considered the issue to be settled.