President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rose from a week earlier last week, breaching the 70 percent mark for the first time in two months, a poll showed Monday.
Moon's approval rating came to 70.3 percent in a survey conducted Monday through Friday on 2,533 adults throughout the country, according to Realmeter.
The local pollster partly attributed the increase to Moon's upcoming summit with US President Donald Trump.
This file photo, taken Sept. 22, 2017, shows South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) and US President Donald Trump speaking in their bilateral summit held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. (Yonhap)
"Such a rise appears to have been caused by signs of improvement in South Korea-China relations following the release of the countries' joint statement over the THAAD issue, as well as an expectation for security and diplomatic achievements during the US president's visit to South Korea this week and Moon's summit diplomacy in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines," the pollster said in a press release.
Moon and Trump are scheduled to hold talks in Seoul on Tuesday, marking their third bilateral summit since taking office earlier in the year. Moon will embark on a three-nation trip on Wednesday to take part in a series of regional forums, including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit slated to be held in Da Nang, Vietnam on Friday and Saturday.
The ruling Democratic Party's approval rating also gained 2.5 percentage points from a week earlier to 51.7 percent, marking the first on-week increase in four weeks, while that of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party slipped 2.1 percentage points to 16.8 percent.
The liberal People's Party's rating inched up 0.1 percentage point to 6.0 percent, with that of the splinter conservative Bareun Party also advancing 0.1 percentage point to 4.8 percent.
The progressive Justice Party scored 5.9 percent, up 1.2 percentage points from a week earlier. (Yonhap)
