Korea Is Least Preferred among Four Dragons by the Advanced Countries

Korea was found to be least preferred among `Four Dragons of Asia`, namely Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, by the peoples of four advanced countries, that is, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan.

This was disclosed as a result of the survey conducted by an American survey company Zogby at a request from the Office of Promotion for Government Affairs International on 800~1000 people of each advanced country and the United States. American preferred Taiwan most, and Korea second.

To the question as to `what is the first image about Korea` most Europeans and Japanese answered `war and conflicts with North Korea`. To the question about the possibility of war in the Korean Peninsula in next five decades, 76 percent of Americans, 61 percent of the British and 56 percent of Germans answered `it is possible`.

70 percent of French respondents consented to the return of Kyujang-Kak documents to Korea, among whom 31 percent answered `they should be returned with no conditions` and 27 percent, `they should be exchanged with other cultural assets`.

Chol-Hi Lee klimt@donga.com