Moon Jae-in, former head of the Democratic Party, posted a record high approval rating among presidential hopefuls, data showed Monday, while Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn narrowed gap with the front-runner.

According to the poll conducted by Realmeter, Moon posted an approval rating of 36.4 percent last week, up 2.9 percentage points from a week earlier. The survey was conducted on 2,025 South Koreans last week with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
 

It marked the ninth consecutive week for Moon to stand as the No. 1 contender in the pollster's survey.

Acting President Hwang, a conservative figure, followed with 14.9 percent, trailed by South Chungcheong Gov. An Hee-jung of the Democratic Party with 12.6 percent. Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor People's Party posted 10.8 percent.

Hwang, who was listed in the second spot for the first time in the weekly poll, has been gathering popularity in the conservative bloc after former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon withdrew from the presidential race.

Pundits said Hwang's popularity also shot up among conservative South Koreans after he rejected the extension of a special probe into the corruption scandal of President Park Geun-hye.

By party, the Democratic Party posted 47.2 percent, maintaining the 47-percent level for the third consecutive week. The ruling Liberty Korea Party posted 14.4 percent, followed by the People's Party with 10.7 percent and the Bareun Party with 6.6 percent. The Justice Party posted 5.3 percent. (Yonhap)