Public opinion in South Korea towards businesses and entrepreneurs improved this year compared to 2013, with less people feeling animosity towards companies, a report by a local economic think tank showed Wednesday.

According to the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), 65 percent of the 2,000 people surveyed said they held favorable views towards local businesses, up 2 percentage points from the year before.

The latest annual findings also showed 60 percent of the respondents saying they liked entrepreneurs who founded and ran their own companies, up from just 51 percent tallied last year.

For CEOs, 79 percent said they held favorable opinions, vis-a-vis 66 percent in last year's poll, KERI said.

The research arm of the Federation of Korean Industries, the lobbying group for the country's large conglomerates, said among people surveyed, civil servants had the lowest regard for companies and entrepreneurs.

Only 58 percent of civil servants said they liked companies, with the number falling to 52 when asked about entrepreneurs. 

In contrast, employees of large companies had the highest regard for businesses, entrepreneurs and CEOs.

With regard to anti-business sentiment, 59 percent of those polled said animosity ran high in the country, down from 63 percent last year and 76 percent in 2012.

The biggest cause of animosity was the perception that businesses broke or circumvented the law. This was followed by excessively close ties between businesses and policymakers, and lack of social responsibility. (Yonhap)