S Koreans worried about North sparking war - poll

SEOUL Sep 22 (Reuters) South Koreans are more and more disenchanted with North Korea, with a growing number losing enthusiasm for unification and believing their Stalinist neighbour could start a war, a survey released today said.

The poll by the daily JoongAng Ilbo was taken nearly two months after the reclusive North defied international warnings by test-firing missiles and amid widespread speculation it was planning to test an atomic bomb.

Some 57 per cent of respondents said they thought it was possible North Korea would provoke a war, up 15 per centage points from a similar poll last year.

Just 12 per cent thought unification with the North from which the South has been separated for some 60 years was an absolute necessity. The overall per centage of South Koreans who showed support for unification fell seven per centage points.

Ties between the two Koreas, which had generally been improving over the past few years, have chilled since the July 5 missile launch.

North Korea also jumped a notch in the rankings of South Korea's most-hated country from number three in 2005 to number two this year.

The number one spot was kept by Japan, which colonised the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 and whose relations with Seoul have again turned increasingly sour over the past few years.

But Japan was also the country South Koreans picked as a model they most wanted their country to emulate, the survey said.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, whose popularity rating has been falling sharply, fared poorly in this survey. About two-thirds of respondents said Roh had done nothing good in more than three years in office, up from just over half a year before.

The survey was conducted between August 22 and September 2 among 1,200 adults through face-to-face interviews.

REUTERS SY BS1018