New S.Korean President's first approval rating over 52%: Survey

Seoul, May 23 (IANS) More than 52 per cent of South Koreans gave a positive assessment of President Yoon Suk-yeol's handling of state affairs in the first poll on his approval rating since he took office on May 10, a survey revealed on Monday.

In the Realmeter poll of 2,528 people aged 18 or above nationwide conducted from May 16-20, 52.1 per cent said Yoon did a good job, while 40.6 per cent said he did not, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Yoon's approval rating was high among the ruling People Power Party (PPP) supporters, conservative voters and those in their 70s.

It was relatively low among the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) supporters, residents of the southwestern Jeolla provinces and those in their 40s.

Contributing to the approval ratings were believed to be Yoon's first summit with US President Joe Biden and his attendance in a ceremony marking the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju, Realmeter said.

The PPP's approval rating stood at 50.1 per cent, outweighing DP's approval rating of 38.6 per cent.

It marks the first time the PPP's approval rating surpassed the 50 per cent mark since the third week of February 2020 before it changed its name from the United Future Party.

In a separate poll of 1,002 voters conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) over the weekend, Yoon's job approval rating was 55.7 per cent.

The KSOI poll also showed that more than 57 per cent of respondents support the government's decision to participate in the US-led new economic initiative, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), planned to formally launch on Monday.

The IPEF is a framework unveiled by Biden at the East Asia Summit last October to strengthen US economic cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners in key areas, such as fair trade, supply chain resilience, infrastructure, clean energy and decarbonization.