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South Korean small business owners rally in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Seoul to announce their participation in the nationwide boycott against Japanese products on July 5. (Baek So-ah

Three out of four South Koreans expect that the boycott of Japanese products will continue unless Japan retracts its economic retaliation. Four out of 10 said that, even if Japan does walk back its retaliatory measures, the boycott is likely to continue until Japan apologizes and provides compensation for its past wars of aggression, or even remain in place afterward.

On Aug. 15, polling organization Real Meter released the results of a survey of 501 adult South Koreans around the country contacted on Aug. 14 at the request of TBS, a South Korean broadcaster. The poll, which had a reliability of 95% and a sample error of ±4.4%, asked participants how long the boycott of Japanese products would continue.

Real Meter reported that 34.9% of respondents said the boycott would go on until Japan takes back its economic retaliation, and 28.1% said it would continue until Japan apologizes and provides compensation. 13.2% of respondents said the boycott would keep going even after the apology and compensation.

Combining these answers shows that 76.2% of respondents think the boycott will continue if Japan doesn’t shelve its retaliatory measures. In contrast, just 13.0% think the boycott will wind down before those measures are retracted. Among the respondents, 10.8% said they weren’t sure or declined to respond.

The percentage of South Koreans who think the boycott will continue even after Japan rescinds its economic retaliation was 56.4% among people in their 20s, the only age group in which that response exceeded 50%. This response was less common among older respondents, provided by 49.4% of people in their 30s, 45.2% in their 40s, 32.2% in their 50s, and 30.3% in their 60s and above. The implication is that younger people are taking a harder line on the boycott.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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