April 27, 2005 - 5:50 AM

Over 60 pct in S.Korea, China dislike Japan: poll

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is becoming increasingly unpopular with its closest Asian neighbours, according to a poll carried out before a series of anti-Japan demonstrations in China earlier this month, a Japanese daily said on Wednesday.

In a survey commissioned by the liberal Asahi Shimbun in March, 63 percent of respondents in South Korea and 64 percent in China said they disliked Japan.

The figures were up from 34 percent of Chinese who said they disliked Japan in a 1997 poll and 57 percent of respondents who expressed dislike in a South Korean poll in 2001, the paper said.

Earlier this month, anti-Japanese demonstrations in China turned violent as feelings erupted over a range of issues, many related to a view in China that Japan has tried to whitewash its history of aggression in Asia before and during World War Two.

South Koreans were also angered by Japanese claims to a group of tiny islets between the two countries, known as Takeshima in Japan and Tokto in South Korea. They are currently held by Seoul.

More than 80 percent of respondents in each country opposed Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, the paper said, while two thirds of Chinese said they were unaware of Japan's record of providing official development assistance (ODA) to China.

Feelings were more muted in Japan, where 22 percent of respondents said they disliked South Korea and 28 percent said they disliked China, the Asahi said.