Mike joins Dr Choi Kang, President of the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies, to break down the latest results from the Institute’s annual public opinion poll and what they reveal about how South Koreans view today’s most pressing security challenges. Why is Japan’s Prime Minister the most popular global leader among South Koreans? What’s driving record-high support for the US–ROK alliance? And why is backing for an indigenous nuclear deterrent simultaneously rising to unprecedented levels? Mike and Dr Choi unpack the data and what it means for South Korea’s strategic direction on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.