SEOUL, South Korea, June 22 (UPI) -- Nearly 80 percent of South Koreans support a resumption of long suspended inter-Korean dialogue, a survey by a presidential advisory panel showed Thursday, indicating strong backing for the policy line of new President Moon Jae-in.
In the survey by the National Unification Advisory Council, 76.9 percent of respondents said South Korea should restore dialogue channels with North Korea as part of efforts to play a leading role in the resolution of the North Korean nuclear problem. Of the rest, 22 percent said they disagree.
The poll was conducted June 9-11, about a month after the liberal Moon Jae-in administration took office May 10 on a promise to pursue inter-Korean reconciliation under the right conditions.
In the same survey, 74.4 percent said they agree with the government's principle of allowing private sector exchanges within the boundaries of the international sanctions regime against Pyongyang. Twenty-three percent said they disagree.
Under the new administration, 48.1 percent said they expect inter-Korean relations to improve, up 13.9 percentage points from the previous survey.
Also, 39.8 percent described North Korea as a country for cooperation or assistance, up 5.1 points from the earlier survey, while 44.3 percent viewed it as a hostile nation or one to be on guard against.
In the field of North Korea and unification policy, 59.6 percent said the government should place top priority on denuclearizing the North and establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, more than double the figure for improving North Korea's human rights situation, which stood at 25.7 percent.
On whether summit diplomacy, including the upcoming meeting between Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump, would contribute to peace and stability on the peninsula, 74 percent responded affirmatively.
The survey was conducted on 1,000 adults and had a margin of error of 3.1 points at the 95 percent confidence level.
The Unification Flag of Korea, which both North and South Korean Olympians will use to represent them in the games.
On Sunday, female  players from  and  joined one another for a training session before the upcoming Winter Olympics. Players from the two Koreas are to compete together as a united team for the events hosted in , South Korea, which are scheduled to start on February 9; Seoul's Unification Ministry said. The cross-border gesture is part of diplomatic efforts to ease tensions on the divided  and the team was approved by the .

The  selected Pyeongchang in 2011 to host the event, marking South Korea's first opportunity since the  in . The earlier event was marred by violence as North Korea had  several months prior, killing over 100 and boycotted the event. Inter-Korean relations have changed considerably in the ensuing thirty years, including the two sending unified teams for table tennis and youth football in other non-Olympic competitions.

The announcement that the two countries would compete together was a stated goal of South Korean President . Last year, he announced the proposal and the two nations went into discussion this month. After two weeks, they made the announcement to field a consolidated 35-strong team of ice hockey players and have joint skiing exercises with both team coaches involved.

According to Yonhap News Agency estimates, about 80% of South Koreans support dialogue, but the move to have a joint team has been controversial. Over 10,000 South Korean citizens sent a petition to South Korean President Moon opposing the union and a group of North Korean  held a protest at the South Korean  on January 24, tearing apart photos of the North Korean leader, . Public support for eventual reunification of the Korean peninsula has waned in recent years, with the younger generation more skeptical of the possibility.