President Moon Jae-in's approval rating declined last week for the second consecutive week, amid an escalating controversy surrounding the chief of a financial watchdog, a poll showed Monday.
In the weekly survey, conducted by local pollster Realmeter from Monday to Friday, 66.8 percent of respondents approved of Moon's job performance, down 1.3 percentage points from a week earlier.
Those who disapproved of his performance made up 26.7 percent, up 1 percentage point from the previous week, while those who said they were unsure or declined to answer comprised 6.5 percent, up 0.3 percentage point.
President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)
The survey, commissioned by local broadcaster CBS, was conducted on 2,501 adults across the country. It has a margin of error of 2 percentage points and a 95 percent confidence level.
Kim Ki-sik, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, has been under pressure to resign following revelations that three overseas trips he made as a lawmaker in 2014 and 2015 were funded by financial and research institutions under the oversight of his parliamentary financial committee.
Kim has apologized for the controversy but insists that no favors were given to the institutions that paid for the trips. The two conservative parties have filed a complaint with the prosecution, claiming that the trips amount to bribes.
This week's survey put public support for the ruling Democratic Party at 50.4 percent, down 0.7 percentage point from the previous week.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party scored 21.9 percent, up 1.1 percentage points, while the ratings for the Bareunmirae Party, Justice Party and Party for Democracy and Peace were tallied at 5.7 percent, 4.2 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively. (Yonhap)
