SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The image of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) among South Korean students grew positive amid the rising peace mood on the Korean Peninsula, a poll showed Tuesday.

According to the joint survey by the unification and education ministries, 50.9 percent of students said the DPRK is a partner South Korea should cooperate with. It was up from 41.3 percent in the previous survey.

The results were based on the poll of 82,947 students in 597 primary and secondary schools nationwide conducted from Oct. 22 to Dec. 10 last year. A similar survey of 91,316 students was conducted in 548 schools in 2017.

Students who saw the DPRK as an enemy tumbled to 5.2 percent last year from 41 percent in the prior year. Those regarding the DPRK as an object to watch out for was 28.2 percent in 2018.

Those seeing the DPRK as a country in need of help from South Korea increased from 10.8 percent to 12.1 percent in the cited period.

The increased positive image came amid the growing peace mood on the peninsula, created by the series of inter-Korean summit meetings and the first-ever summit between the DPRK and the United States last year.