A TV installed at Seoul Station in central Seoul, Friday, shows people watching a new report about the first U.S. presidential debate of the election season held on Thursday (local time) in Atlanta, Ga. With no guarantee of another term for Biden next year, more South Koreans now say they prefer having their own nuclear weapons over U.S. military forces stationed in their country, according to a new poll. Newsis

Public support in South Korea for developing its own nuclear weapons has rebounded this year, with 66 percent backing the idea amid ongoing nuclear threats from North Korea, a new poll shows.

According to a report released on Thursday by the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), a state-funded think tank, 66 percent of 1,001 respondents indicated they "support or strongly support" the idea of equipping their country with nuclear weapons unless the North Korean regime abandons its nuclear ambitions.

The support rate has increased from the think tank's 2023 poll, where 60.2 percent expressed favorability toward the idea. The previous result was published shortly after the Washington Declaration, in which U.S. President Joe Biden affirmed American commitment to defending the South against any potential nuclear attack from the North.

With no guarantee of another term for Biden next year, more South Koreans now say they prefer having their own nuclear weapons over U.S. military forces being stationed in their country.

According to this year's poll, 44.6 percent said they prefer having South Korea's own nuclear arms to having U.S. military equipment and soldiers stationed here ― marking the first such preference shift since the think tank began including that question in its report in 2021. Just last year, 49.5 percent preferred having U.S. military forces stationed in their country, while only 33.8 percent favored possessing their own nuclear arms.

When asked about the credibility of Washington's nuclear umbrella, 66.9 percent said they trust it, down from 72.1 percent last year.

U.S. President Joe Biden looks down as he participates in the first presidential debate of the election season with former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Atlanta, Ga., Thursday (local time). AFP-Yonhap

All of this suggests a growing concern among South Koreans about the potential for changes in America's foreign policy, including its security commitments, especially with the prospect of Donald Trump securing a second presidential term. During his first term, Trump repeatedly proposed completely withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said in a memoir.

According to a New York Times report last month, surveys conducted jointly by the newspaper, Siena College, and the Philadelphia Inquirer indicated that Trump was leading among registered voters in a head-to-head matchup against Biden in five out of six key states: Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.

The KINU's report shows that 52.2 percent of respondents believe Trump's election win would mean the deterioration of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

For that important reason among others, 62.8 percent said they prefer Biden to Trump as the leader of the U.S., while only 10.6 percent said they prefer having Trump in that position.

In another notable result, 56.6 percent said they believe that, if Trump returns to the White House, he will likely hold another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, despite their two previous fruitless meetings during Trump's first term.