"The alliance is with the United States, but Trump is disliked"... First time Korean dislike of the U.S. tops 50%

[Financial News] South Koreans' view of the United States has grown colder. For the first time since the Pew Research Center began related surveys more than 20 years ago, the share of respondents who said they have an unfavorable view of the United States has risen above half. Amid strong backlash over Donald Trump's tariff and Iran policies, the share of people who see the United States as a trustworthy partner also fell sharply. Even so, more than 8 in 10 South Koreans still named the United States as their most important ally. While affection and trust in the United States have weakened, many appear to view the need for the ROK-U.S. Alliance separately.
According to survey results released on the 24th by the U.S. polling firm Pew Research Center, 55% of South Koreans said they had an unfavorable view of the United States. That was up 16 percentage points from 39% last year. By contrast, the share saying they had a favorable view of the United States fell by 16 points over the same period, from 61% to 45%. The share saying they had a "very unfavorable" view also doubled, from 9% to 18%.
This is the first time in Pew's related surveys that negative views of the United States in South Korea have exceeded 50%. It is also rare for unfavorable views to outnumber favorable ones. In a 2003 survey, 50% said they had an unfavorable view and 46% said they had a favorable view. At the time, anti-American sentiment had spread widely in South Korea after incidents such as the deaths of two schoolgirls, Shin Hyo-sun and Shim Mi-sun, who were struck by a U.S. military armored vehicle in 2002.
The shift over the past few years has been even steeper. Favorable views of the United States among South Koreans reached 89% in 2022, then fell to 79% in 2023, 77% in 2024, 61% last year, and 45% this year. That marks a drop of 44 percentage points in four years. Even in 2018, during Trump's first term, favorability toward the United States stood at 80%.
The erosion is not limited to general favorability. Trust in the United States has also weakened. Only 57% of South Koreans said the United States is a "trustworthy partner." That is 26 points lower than in 2022, when 83% gave that answer under the Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. administration.
Views of the United States' global role have also worsened. The share saying the United States contributes "a lot" or "quite a bit" to world peace and stability fell from 74% in 2023 to 47% this year, a decline of 27 points. The share saying the United States considers the interests of other countries such as South Korea when setting foreign policy also dropped, from 38% in 2023 to 21% this year.
Opposition to Trump's policies was especially strong. Eighty-five percent of South Koreans opposed his tariff policy, and 63% of them said they "strongly oppose" it. Only 14% said they support the tariff policy.
Seventy-three percent also gave a negative assessment of Trump's response to Iran. Of those, 47% said they "strongly oppose" it.
However, the backlash against the United States did not translate into a negative view of the ROK-U.S. Alliance itself. Eighty-four percent of South Koreans still called the United States South Korea's "most important ally." That was down 5 points from 89% last year, but it remains overwhelming. In a survey of 24 countries last year, South Korea ranked second only to Israel in the share naming the United States as their most important ally.
The survey was part of Pew Research Center's 2026 Global Attitudes Survey and was conducted in South Korea from March 3 to April 4 among 1,045 adults. Pew also said the survey was carried out before Trump's call to scale back ROK-U.S. joint military exercises.

[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter