S.Korean President's 1st approval rating posts 81.6 pct: poll

South Korean President Moon Jae-in's first approval rating since his inauguration earlier this month topped 80 percent, a local poll showed Monday.

According to a Realmeter survey, President Moon gained 81.6 percent in support scores. Negative assessment on him was 10.1 percent, while 8.3 percent refrained from replying.

It was based on a poll of 2,526 voters conducted from Monday to Friday last week. It had 1.9 percentage points in a margin of error, with a 95 percent confidence level.

Moon's approval scores were much higher than his predecessor Park Geun-hye's 54.8 percent. Park's predecessor Lee Myung-bak logged 76.0 percent in the first survey results.

Support for Moon surpassed 90 percent in the country's southwest region, a traditional home turf for the ruling Democratic Party.

The support rate exceeded in all regions across the country, including the southeast region, a political home turf for conservative politicians.

Moon's Democratic Party posted 53.3 percent in support scores last week, up 8.6 percentage points from a week earlier. The rate kept rising for the third consecutive week.

Four major opposition parties saw a fall in approval ratings. Support for the main opposition Liberty Korea Party fell 0.6 percentage points to 12.4 percent.

It was followed by the centrist People's Party, whose support rating shed 1.1 percentage points to 7.7 percent.

Support for the minor conservative Righteous Party dipped 1.5 percentage points to 6.8 percent.

The minor progressive Justice Party saw its support tumble 3.0 percentage points to 6.6 percent as support for the party moved to the ruling Democratic Party.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)