President Park Geun-hye’s approval ratings took an upturn amid heightened inter-Korean tensions following North Korea’s recent hydrogen bomb test, a national security issue that united centrist and conservative voters.
The state leader thus rebounded from her recent plunge triggered by the government’s much-criticized deal with Japan on the surviving wartime sex slaves.
President Park Geun-hye
In a survey conducted on 2,518 adults from Jan. 4-8, 44.6 percent of respondents approved of Park’s performance, which was up 2.1 percentage points from the previous week, local pollster Realmeter said Monday.
The given period included Jan. 6, when North Korea announced that it had successfully carried out a fourth nuclear test, claiming it was an act of self-defense and thereby lifting military tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Those who disapproved of the incumbent president stood at 51 percent, down 2 percentage points from a week earlier, the poll also showed.
This was the first time in five weeks that Park saw an improvement in approval ratings, which had mostly faltered after the abruptly signed Dec. 28 Korea-Japan agreement on surviving wartime sex slaves.
The ruling Saenuri Party, too, saw an increase in its approval rating last week and reached 36.1 percent, which was up 0.9 percentage points from the previous week. The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea stood at 20.3 percent, down 3.3 percentage points.
“The North Korean nuclear test raised anxiety in terms of national security, and this seems to have brought together conservative voters, as well as the free-floating centrist groups,” said an official from the polling agency.
In response to the North’s provocations, South Korea resumed its anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts, citing the Aug. 25 agreement in which the two Koreas had agreed to stop propaganda unless “abnormal situations” occurred.
Amid such changeovers of public sentiment, the president is expected to reiterate her stern gestures against the communist state and possibly use the outside risk as an opportunity to urge for the passage of pending bills.
Park will give a public statement Wednesday morning to be followed by a press conference to speak on key current issues, presidential spokesperson Jeong Yeon-guk told reporters Monday.
By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)
