South Korean: The approval rating of President Lee has recovered to 60% Survey
South Korean: According to a survey released on Friday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating increased to 60% this week due to favorable public opinion of his diplomacy.
The favorable evaluation of Lee’s overall performance increased by five percentage points from the previous poll in mid-December, according to a Gallup Korea survey that was conducted Tuesday through Thursday among 1,000 respondents who were at least eighteen years old.
According to Yonhap News Agency, 33% had an unfavorable opinion, compared to 36% in the previous poll, while 7% withheld their assessment.
Among the reasons given for favorable evaluations, diplomacy accounted for 30% of the total, followed by his leadership in handling economic and livelihood concerns (14%).
Criticism of his performance on economic and livelihood issues was the main source of negative evaluations.
According to the pollster, Lee’s recent state visit to China seems to have put his diplomacy back in the spotlight, which led to favorable evaluations.
Lee just returned from a four-day state visit to China, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for summit discussions aimed at strengthening economic relations and coordinating diplomatic initiatives with North Korea.
Sensitive matters were also discussed between the two sides, such as China’s steel constructions in Yellow Sea areas that overlap, which Seoul believes might serve as a foundation for territorial claims.
The People Power Party, the largest opposition party, had a 26% approval rating, compared to 45% for the governing Democratic Party.
At a 95% confidence level, the survey’s margin of error was within 3.1 percentage points.
In the meanwhile, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung would go to Japan’s Nara region for two days early next week to have summit discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about measures to improve bilateral relations.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, Lee will go to Japan on Tuesday for the summit negotiations, which will take place in Takaichi’s hometown of Nara, a province in Japan.
According to a statement from Cheong Wa Dae, the two leaders are anticipated to talk about a variety of regional and international concerns in addition to the economy, society, and culture.
In November, Lee and Takaichi met briefly on the fringes of the Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in South Africa. Their most recent summit meetings took place on October 30 in Gyeongju, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation event.
Next Wednesday, Lee will meet with ethnic Koreans in Japan and attend a friendship event with Takaichi before heading back home.
After visiting Tokyo in August and holding summit discussions with Shigeru Ishiba, Takaichi’s predecessor, Lee will make his second journey to the neighboring nation.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, the forthcoming visit is anticipated to contribute to bolstering the forward-looking momentum of bilateral relations via “shuttle diplomacy,” or reciprocal visits.