ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates South Koreans' opinions of North Korea and unification. In analyzing the great powers' policies towards Korea, particular emphasis is put on the United States and China since they are the main regional powers. The perceived positive impact of socio-cultural exchanges and on relations, which may be offset by images of North Korea, is clear from a study made by the South Korean scholar Lee Woo-Young. The Korea Youth Development Institute carried out in September 2002 another opinion survey to find out youth's views about the process of North-South unity. The main obstacles to unification were North Korea adhering to communism and the economic gap in South's favour, but the views of other factors imply that also South Korea has to change. The lower rank of deepening of heterogeneity than political and economic factors deriving from national division may reflect a view that national homogeneity could be easier to restore than to build a politically and economically unified Korea.
