Lee's approval rating rises for 2nd consecutive week: poll
President Lee Jae Myung attends the NATO Defense Industry Forum held at Ankara Convention Center in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday (local time). Yonhap
President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating climbed for the second straight week to 48.9 percent, driven by positive sentiment over his diplomacy, a poll showed Monday.
The rating was up 1.9 percentage points from the previous week, while the negative assessment fell 1.5 percentage points to 47.7 percent, according to the survey by Realmeter, commissioned by the EKN newspaper.
Realmeter attributed the rise to Lee's diplomatic and security achievements, including his participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit and a series of bilateral meetings held on the sidelines, which the pollster said helped elevate South Korea-NATO defense cooperation.
Lee attended the NATO summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in his first appearance at the annual gathering since taking office in June last year.
The latest survey was conducted on 2,515 adults from Monday through Friday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.
In a separate survey conducted by the same pollster on 1,002 individuals aged 18 and over on Thursday and Friday, the approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea rose 1.8 percentage points from a week earlier to 44.8 percent.
The approval rating for the main opposition People Power Party fell 2.2 percentage points to 38.1 percent.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.