S.Korean president's approval rating falls 1st time since taking office

APD NEWS

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in saw the first fall in his approval rating since taking office earlier this month, a local survey showed Monday.

According to the Realmeter poll, Moon's support was 78.1 percent last week, down 6 percentage points from the previous week.

It was based on a poll of 2,527 voters conducted from Monday to Friday last week. It has 1.9 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.

Since Moon was inaugurated on May 10, his approval scores had hovered above 80 percent for high expectations for his management of state affairs.

Last week's downturn was attributable to allegations over irregularities surrounding some senior government post nominees, including the false address registration and real estate speculation.

Confirmation bill for Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon was passed last week through the National Assembly despite the main opposition Liberty Korea Party's boycott to participate in the vote.

Support for Moon's ruling Democratic Party fell 1.1 percentage points to 55.6 percent last week. Despite the slide, the approval rating stayed high.

The Liberty Korea Party's support rating rose 1 percentage point to 13 percent, ending the third straight weeks of the falling trend.

The centrist People's Party ranked third with support of 8 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous week.

Figures for the minor progressive Justice Party and the minor conservative Righteous Party stood at 6 percent and 5.3 percent respectively.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)