Anchor: An annual BBC survey shows South Korea's global popularity has waned mildly since 2012. The poll indicates roughly 36 percent of people around the world view South Korea in a positive light, a number that has dropped off slightly from last year while a negative view has grown.
Our Kim Soyon reports.

Report: The BBC’s annual Country Ratings Poll was released Thursday, and it shows global views of South Korea have grown more negative over the past year.

The survey on 26-thousand people from 25 countries asked whether a country’s influence in the world was "mainly positive" or "mainly negative.”

South Korea appeared in the poll for the fourth time. It was positively viewed by 36 percent of respondents, one percentage point down from last year. Negative views went up four percentage points to 31 percent.

Germany came out on top as the most positively viewed nation in the world with 59 percent rating it positively and 15 percent negatively. Canada and the UK followed in second and third. Both shared a 55 percent positive view but Canada’s negative view was smaller at 13 percent compared to Britain’s 18 percent.

Brazil and the U.S. ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, while China came in eighth, one spot ahead of South Korea.

Iran was once again the most negatively viewed nation in 16th place, while North Korea ranked 14th ahead of Pakistan. Nineteen of the 25 countries that took part in the poll had a negative view of North Korea at 54 percent.

As for South Korea, 13 of the 25 nations viewed the country as mainly positive and eight countries as mainly negative. Opinions were split in four nations.

In African countries south of the Sahara, views of South Korea improved this year. Fifty-five percent rated South Korea’s influence as positive in Ghana, and 48 percent in Nigeria said the same.

In Latin America, 40 percent viewed South Korea as having a positive influence with Chile being the most favorable.

South Korea was viewed most negatively in Germany where 65 percent said the South has a negative influence in the world and just 17 percent said its impact is positive.

Kim Soyon, KBS World Radio News.