A recent survey has revealed that slightly more than 10% of South Koreans would be willing to participate in combat if war broke out on the Korean Peninsula, reflecting a noticeable decline in willingness to fight directly.
According to the 2023 National Security Awareness Survey, released by Rep. Hwang Hee of the Democratic Party of Korea, only 13.9% of respondents said they would engage in combat during a war. This marks a significant drop from 22.7% in 2014 and 20.9% in 2020. Despite ongoing security concerns, many South Koreans appear less inclined to take up arms than in previous years.
However, a larger proportion—48.2%—expressed their willingness to support the military from the rear, the highest level recorded since 2014. This indicates that while many citizens are apprehensive about the possibility of war, they prefer non-combat roles in aiding the country’s defense efforts.
When asked about their plans in the event of war, 27.3% said they would evacuate to a safer area, while 3.2% indicated they would leave the country. These figures show little change compared to previous surveys.
Public perceptions of the security situation were also assessed. 38.9% of respondents said that the current security situation in South Korea is somewhat unstable, while 2.7% said it is very unstable. This means that 41.6% of the population is concerned about the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Conversely, only 2% of respondents described the situation as very stable, and 26.7% considered it somewhat stable. Only 28.7% rated the security situation as stable, representing a 9.8 percentage point decrease compared to 38.4% in 2022.
The National Defense University conducted this survey through interviews with 1,200 adult men and women aged 18 to under 75. A separate web survey was conducted with 100 national defense and security experts.
Rep. Hwang Hee stated that as military tensions between the two Koreas increase, public anxiety is also growing. He emphasized the need to resume inter-Korean dialogue channels as soon as possible to seek peaceful solutions.
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