A public opinion poll in Japan finds that eight out of ten Japanese people believe that relations with South Korea should improve.

While hoping for better relations, a similar percentage of Japanese people at negatively viewed Seoul's decision to terminate the military intelligence sharing agreement with Tokyo.

The Japan News Network surveyed over one thousand Japanese voters on Saturday and Sunday, and 79 percent of respondents said it would be better to improve ties with South Korea which have been worsening.

Only 13 percent said the current bilateral relations were fine as is. 

However, 76 percent of the surveyed said they didn't understand South Korea's decision to end the General Security of Military Information Agreement compared to the nine percent who said they understood the decision.

In addition, 59 percent believed Japan's decision to remove Korea from its trade whitelist was the right thing to do while 24 percent opposed the move.

Half of the respondents hoped for a Seoul-Tokyo summit at an early date while 38 percent said they didn't see why a summit would be necessary.

The approval rating for the Abe administration fell by around three percentage points from last month to 57 percent in the latest poll.