Published : Aug. 14, 2017 - 10:21
President Moon Jae-in's approval rating continued to suffer a slight drop last week, a poll showed Monday, amid growing concerns of an armed conflict sparked by North Korea's missile threats.
In a poll conducted by Realmeter, 71.8 percent of 2,542 voters surveyed said they approved of the president's management of state affairs, down 0.7 percentage point from a week earlier.
The weekly survey was held Monday through Friday. The survey had a confidence level of 95 percent, with a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points.
(Yonhap)
The latest reading also marked the second consecutive week of decline.
The continued fall apparently follows North Korea's repeated missile threats, with the latest threat involving the US-controlled island of Guam that has prompted heated reactions from US President Donald Trump.
The US leader warned the communist state will be met with "fire and fury" should it continue to make threats against the United States, sparking concerns of a conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
Earlier reports noted South Korea's market capitalization plunged 4.4 percent or by $67.7 billion in just three days last week, amid an apparent exodus of foreign investors.
While Moon's approval rating shrank, the number of people who disapprove of the president's management of state affairs increased 0.4 percentage point to 21.3 percent.
The ruling Democratic Party's approval rating slipped 0.8 percentage point to 49.8 percent, dipping below the 50 percent mark for the first time in 12 weeks.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party, on the other hand, enjoyed a 0.4 percentage point rise to 16.9 percent, marking the second consecutive week of gain.
The progressive Justice Party and the splinter conservative Bareun Party saw their approval ratings increase 0.8 percentage point and 0.4 percentage point, respectively, to 6.5 percent and 6.2 percent.
The liberal People's Party scored the lowest 5.4 percent, down 1.5 percentage points from a week earlier. (Yonhap)