Original article in Korean is at this link. The results of this survey are somewhat contradicted by the brisk business in American beef in Korean supermarkets.

The Chosun Ilbo commissioned the Millward Brown Group to conduct a mobile phone survey of 500 adults between the ages of 20 and 49 nationwide, finding that 49.0% said they believe that “if the KORUS FTA [Free Trade Agreement] is passed then our country will become a colony of the US economy”. 51.9% of those in their 20s and 51.3% of those in their 30s, and thus over half of young people, agreed.

Also, 48.0% of those in all three age groups believe that “with the KORUS FTA we will be unable to prevent the importation of beef from American cows with mad cow disease, the eating of which will cause Kreutzfeld-Jakob Disease in humans.” 54.7% of those in their 30s believe that the KORUS FTA will cause rampant mad cow disease, and 69.1% of women in their 30s are worried about it, the survey found.

46.9% of those in their 20s, 48.1% of those in their 30s, and 35.5% of those in their 40s believe that “the Seo Tae-ji/Lee Ji-ah divorce story was leaked by the National Intelligence Service to distract people from the BBK scandal involving President Lee Myung-bak.”

Asked about the credibility of six well-known politicians and others who make social comments through Twitter, 83.2% of those in all age groups have trust in Ahn Cheol-s00, the dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University. 71.8% have trust in broadcaster Kim Jae-dong, 65.3% in novelist Lee Oi-soo, 47.8% in film actress Kim Yeo-jin, 46.5% in Grand National Party National Assembly representative Park Geun-hye, and 24.5% in President Lee Myung-bak. The survey was conducted through random digit dialing (RDD) of mobile phones, and has a confidence level of 95% with a margin of error of ±4.4 percentage points.