Six in 10 Americans support US troop intervention in case of Korean conflict: survey

A visitor uses a smartphone to film North Korea from the observatory of the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, South Korea, Oct. 5. AP-Yonhap

More than six out of every 10 American adults believe the United States should get involved when and if there is an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula, a survey showed Thursday.

In an annual survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 63 percent of respondents said they would support using U.S. troops to defend South Korea in case North Korea invaded.

The figure marks the highest among four hypothetical instances that also asked those surveyed if they would support using U.S. troops to defend Taiwan from China, Israel from its neighboring countries and a European ally from a Russian invasion.

For Israel, 59 percent of respondents said they would support using U.S. troops, while 52 percent said the same about Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion.

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The figure for South Korea also marks the second highest since at least 1982 after 64 percent tallied in 2018.

The survey also showed 77 percent of Americans hold "net favorable views" of Koreans, noting what it called the anti-immigrant rhetoric amplified by former President Donald Trump and other public figures "is not widely shared among the American public."

The survey was conducted from July 6 to July 26, among a representative national sample of 2,086 adults, the council said, adding it was partly funded by the Korea Foundation, a non-profit public diplomacy organization based in Virginia. (Yonhap)