The Effect of National Identity and Collective Victimhood towards Koreans’ Perception on China-Japan-Korea Trilateral Cooperation

Despite tensions in the diplomatic relationship between the three major countries in East Asia, China, Japan, and South Korea, trilateral cooperation has advanced in the past decade through the China-Japan-Korea Trilateral Summit and the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat. Nevertheless, mutual intimacy among the people of the three countries continue to be low. Public opinion plays an increasingly important role in foreign policy decision-making processes. Therefore, in order to facilitate fruitful cooperation between the three countries, it is important to understand public perception towards trilateral cooperation. To this end, we examined how the psychological factors of national identification and collective victimhood affected Koreans’ perception and attitudes toward China and Japan. In this study, we conducted a survey on 320 participants aged 15 to 40 of Korean nationality, and found that while most Koreans perceived anti-Chinese and anti-Japanese sentiments as a social norm, but on a personal level, participants held more positive attitudes towards Chinese and Japanese, indicating that while Koreans perceived collective social norms regarding attitudes toward China and Japan, they did not necessarily comply with them. In addition, participants with lower degrees of national identification and collective victimhood, showed more positive attitudes towards Chinese and Japanese and higher preference for diplomatic policies over military policies. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.