Seoul: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating fell below 30 per cent for the first time in five months, a poll showed on Friday.
In the poll of 1,002 adults conducted by Gallup Korea from Tuesday to Thursday, the positive assessment of Yoon’s performance declined 4 percentage points from the previous week to 27 per cent, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Yoon’s disapproval rating was 65 per cent, up 4 percentage points from the previous week.
This marked the first time that Yoon’s approval rating has sunk below the 30 per cent mark since the third week of November.
After taking office in May last year, Yoon’s approval rating fell below the 30 percent mark for the first time in late July in the wake of internal turmoil at the ruling party and a controversy surrounding the launch of a police bureau within the interior ministry.
It had stayed in the 30 per cent range since late last year after dipping to an all-time low of 24 percent in early August and late September amid public outcry over an unpopular policy to lower the school entry age and a hot-mic incident during Yoon’s trip to the United States that went viral.
In the latest poll, diplomacy was the most mentioned factor in making both positive and negative assessments of Yoon’s performance.
The pollster said this appeared to be relevant to recent U.S. media reports on allegations that the US eavesdropped on Yoon’s office and the government’s ensuing response.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
