Poll: Majority of South Koreans support Kim Jong Un trip to Seoul

SEOUL, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Six out of 10 people in South Korea said they will welcome North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if he makes a historic visit to Seoul, a poll showed Thursday.

The survey, which asked 500 South Koreans aged more than 19, showed how South Koreans feel about the North Korean leader's first visit to the South Korean capital.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in invited Kim to Seoul at an "appropriate time" within this year during his summit with Kim in Pyongyang in September.

If Kim visits Seoul, he will be the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South Korean capital since the end of the Korean War in the 1950s.

The poll, conducted by Seoul-based pollster Real Meter, found that more than 61 percent of respondents welcome Kim if his visit helps the North-South relations improve and facilitates the peace process between the two Koreas that are technically at war.

Thirty-one percent of respondents said they are against his visit, calling it a "fake peace show."

Those in their 40s with liberal political views supported his visit to Seoul the most.

Seventy-four percent of respondents in their 40s said they welcome Kim. The majority of respondents in their 30s (66 percent) and 20s (61 percent) were also in favor of his visit. More than half of those in their 50s (60 percent) and 60s (50 percent) welcomed him as well.

Those with liberal and neutral political views tend to hold favorable views toward Kim's visit, while some 49 percent of conservatives said they don't welcome Kim in Seoul. Just 37 percent of conservatives said they welcome him.