The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Dec. 9 said a recent survey found that 93.3 percent of respondents rated the nation's traditions and relics as

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Dec. 9 said a recent survey found that 93.3 percent of respondents rated the nation’s traditions and relics as “excellent.” Pictured here on Nov. 24, 2018, is the snow-covered Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. (Korea.net DB)

By Oh Hyun Woo and Kim Hwaya

The overwhelming majority of Koreans say they are proud of their ethnicity, according to the results of a recent survey commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism released on Dec. 9.

Covering the people’s perceptions and values this year, the poll found that 83.9% of respondents said they are proud to be Korean. Most gave high marks to traditional Korean culture and relics (93.3%), moral culture (85.5%) and K-pop (92.8%), calling all three “excellent.”

The survey result also found high satisfaction with life overall, with 63.6% saying they are “generally happy” and 68.3% “finding value” in their jobs.

The overwhelming choices for society’s most negative features, however, were “conflict between liberals and conservatives” and “economic polarization,” with 91.8% saying such struggle is a major source of social conflict and 90.6% calling economic polarization “serious.”

As the seventh of its kind conducted since 1996, the ministry-commissioned study was done on 5,100 adults nationwide by Gallup Korea.

hyunw54@korea.kr