S.Korean Prez's approval rating falls below 50% for 1st time after taking office

Seoul, June 13 (IANS) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating fell below 50 per cent for the first time since he took office last month, a poll revealed on Monday.

In a Realmeter poll of 2,009 adults conducted between June 7-10, 48 per cent gave a positive assessment on Yoon's handling of state affairs, down 4.1 percentage points from the previous survey, while 44.2 per cent answered the opposite, up 3.9 percentage points from the earlier poll, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Yoon's approval rating started with 52.1 per cent and reached 54.1 per cent in the last week of May. But it has been declining since, falling to 52.1 per cent in the first week of June, according to Realmeter.

The President, who spent decades as a prosecutor, recently faced criticism that he selected too many former and incumbent prosecutors for key government positions, including the chief of the watchdog Financial Supervisory Service.

On the favourability rating of political parties, the ruling's People Power Party (PPP) received 47.3 per cent of support, down 2.5 percentage points from the previous poll, while the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) had 39.2 per cent, up 1 percentage point from the earlier survey.

The poll has a margin of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points at a 95 per cent confidence level.

Meanwhile, another of 1,000 adults conducted on June 10-11, Yoon's approval rating was 50.3 per cent, down 6 percentage points from the previous poll on June 1, while 42.6 per cent gave a negative assessment, up 6.5 percentage points from the earlier poll.

It showed the favourability rating of the PPP was 42 per cent, while that of the DP was 32.8 per cent.