A survey finds that about two out of three Japanese and South Koreans believe the two nations should deepen friendly relations despite their differences on historical issues. 

According to the poll of one-thousand South Koreans and one-thousand-14 Japanese conducted by the South Korean daily Hankook Ilbo and Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun daily, 66 percent of South Korean respondents and 61 percent of Japanese respondents said it is better to strengthen friendly bilateral relations despite differences over historical issues. 

The survey, conducted from June 13 to 15, found that 55 percent of South Koreans and 37 percent of Japanese said it would be difficult to deepen relations as long as such differences persist. 

Meanwhile, 55 percent of South Koreans expressed a positive view of the current relationship between the two nations, up 13 percentage points from a year earlier. 

Among Japanese respondents, the figure stood at 52 percent, up two percentage points from the previous year. 

The Yomiuri noted that this is the first time since the survey began in 1995 that more than half of South Korean respondents gave a positive assessment of South Korea-Japan relations.