President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rose from a week earlier last week, a survey showed Monday, apparently aided by his move to collect more tax from the most well-off businesses and individuals to help those less fortunate.
In a survey conducted by Realmeter, 74 percent of all respondents said they approved of the president's management of state affairs, up 1.6 percentage points from a week earlier.
The weekly poll was conducted between Monday through Friday on 2,548 voters throughout the country, according to the local pollster. It had a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points with a confidence level of 95 percent.
The on-week increase came after two consecutive weeks of drop, partly caused by the release of official documents from the former administration that could help further incriminate former leader Park Geun-hye, who was ousted over a bribery scandal.
President Moon Jae-in (2nd from R) visits facilities related to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in the Gangwon Province town on July 30, 2017. (Photo courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae)(Yonhap)
Many, however, have pointed out the release of the documents may have been inappropriate, if not illegal, as the law prohibits the release of presidential documents deemed confidential.
The new administration stopped releasing additional documents, instead handing them over to the presidential archives for preservation.
The first rise in Moon's approval rating in three weeks could also be attributed to his newly released policy objectives that include spending an additional 178 trillion won ($158.3 billion) over the next five years to create jobs and enhance social benefits to the elderly and the poor.
The government says nearly half of the additional spending will have to come from a rise in tax revenues. It says the money will mostly come from the largest and the richest firms and individuals.
Of all respondents, 19.2 percent said they did not approve of the president's state management, down 0.1 percentage point from a week earlier.
The ruling Democratic Party saw its approval rating go up 2.2 percentage points to 52.6 percent, also marking a turnaround from two weeks of drop.
The approval ratings of all four opposition parties dwindled from the previous week with that of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party slipping 0.6 percentage point to 15.4 percent.
The progressive Justice Party came next with 6.4 percent, down 0.3 percentage point over the cited period, followed by the splinter conservative Bareun Party with 5.9 percent and the liberal People's Party at 4.9 percent. (Yonhap)