Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol prior to the start of their meeting on March 16 at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence. (Koichi Ueda)

Sixty-three percent of voters highly evaluated the recent summit between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, compared with 21 percent who gave low marks, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.

Yoon, who visited Tokyo on March 16 and 17, became the first South Korean president to travel to Japan for a summit in about 12 years.

The two leaders agreed to resume reciprocal visits to each other’s country, signaling a step forward in the long-troubled bilateral relations.

The nationwide telephone survey, conducted on March 18 and 19, showed that 78 percent of respondents who approve of the Kishida Cabinet rated the summit highly.

Among those who disapprove of the Cabinet, 56 percent gave a positive evaluation of the summit, according to the survey.

Yoon visited Japan after his government announced a plan to establish a foundation that will pay compensation to wartime Korean laborers on behalf of the Japanese companies that they had worked for.

The payments will match the amount that the South Korean Supreme Court ordered the Japanese companies to pay.

According to the survey, 55 percent of Japanese voters gave a positive assessment of Seoul’s proposal, around double the 28 percent who disapproved.

Sixty-five percent of voters who voiced approval for the Cabinet and 49 percent who disapproved of the Kishida administration endorsed Seoul’s proposed solution.

Approval of the compensation plan increased among those in higher age brackets.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents in their 60s and 70s gave high marks to Seoul’s proposal.

Regarding the future of bilateral relations, 37 percent held positive views, while 3 percent expressed negativity. The most common answer, at 57 percent, was “things will remain the same as now.”

In a mail survey in 2015, the 50th anniversary of normalized diplomatic relations between the two neighbors, 15 percent were positive about future ties, 10 percent were skeptical, and 67 percent expected things to remain the same.

The approval rating for the Kishida Cabinet was 40 percent, up from 35 percent in the previous survey in February.

The disapproval rate was down 3 points to 50 percent.

The survey was conducted by contacting fixed telephone numbers and mobile phone numbers selected at random by computer.

The survey takers received 506 valid responses, or 52 percent, from 981 fixed numbers of households with at least one eligible voter each.

There were 798 valid responses, or 37 percent, from 2,178 mobile phone numbers of eligible voters. Valid responses totaled 1,304.

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