Moon's approval rating tumbles to record low of 56%

President Moon Jae-in's approval rating continued to drop last week, dipping to a record low for a third consecutive week, a poll showed Monday.

Moon's approval rating came to 56.0 percent in the survey conducted last Monday through Thursday, down 0.3 percentage point from the same period a week before, according to Realmeter.

The weekly survey was conducted on 2,505 adults throughout the nation.

The on-week drop comes amid growing concerns over a possible economic slowdown.

A report from the statistics office said the country added only 5,000 new jobs from a year ago in July, compared with more than 100,000 new jobs added the previous month.

Many believe the plunge in the job increase may have been caused by a steep rise in the minimum wage, which spiked 16.4 percent on-year to 7,530 won ($6.76) per hour at the start of the year. It is set to jump 10.9 percent to 8,350 won per hour in 2019.

Moon has made it clear that he will not change the course of his income-led growth strategy, at least for now.

The ruling Democratic Party's approval rating gained 2.3 percentage points to 41.9 percent, ending its three-week streak of decline.

The approval rating of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party advanced 0.6 percentage point to 20.5 percent while that of the splinter Bareunmirae Party slipped 1.3 percentage points to 6.0 percent.

The progressive Justice Party's rating dipped 1.2 percentage points to 12.1 percent with that of the minor opposition Party for Democracy and Peace inching up 0.2 point to 2.6 percent. (Yonhap)