Responding to the Constitutional Court’s decision to remove Park Geun-hye from power, 86 percent of people here approve of the decision, a local poll showed Friday.

According to a survey conducted jointly by Realmeter upon the request of the daily Maeil Business and broadcaster MBN, 86 percent of 1,008 respondents said that the court’s decision was “right” while 12 percent viewed it as “wrong.”

The nation’s top court made an unanimous decision by all of its eight justices that the suspended president should be expelled from her elected position, upholding the impeachment resolution filed by the National Assembly late last year.
 

Ninety-two percent of the survey’s respondents also said that they would accept the court’s decision, regardless of their personal evaluation or political tendency, suggesting that even some of those who disapproved of impeachment put priority on ending the nation’s political divide.

As for former President Park, 69.4 percent of the respondents called for a custody investigation, expressing complaints over her repeated sidestepping of questioning by investigators over the past months.

With an earlier-than-planned presidential election due to take place within the next 60 days -- May 9 is deemed a plausible date -- support ratings for potential presidential candidates are currently topped by Moon Jae-in, former chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.

The survey showed Moon to be the unrivalled front-runner, with 36 percent in support rating.

His rivals include the Democratic Party’s South Chungcheong Gov. An Hee-jung, Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party, acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and liberal Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung.

Among them, the acting president is the only one who has not yet proclaimed his bid in the presidential race. According to the survey, 22.7 percent approved of him making a presidential bid, while 72.2 percent opposed it.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)