Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
LKP's approval rating continues to drop
Rep. Na Kyung-won, left, floor leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), speaks during a party meeting at the National Assembly, Monday. The LKP's approval rating dropped to 25.2 percent, down 3.7 percentage points from a week earlier due to a controversy caused by three LKP lawmakers' defamatory remarks against citizens participating in the May 18 Gwangju Uprising in 1980. / Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
The approval rating of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) dropped precipitously from a week earlier amid an escalating controversy over its members' defamatory remarks against citizens participating in the May 18 Gwangju Uprising in 1980.
A survey of 2,513 adults conducted by Realmeter between Feb. 11 and 15 shows the support rate of the LKP plunged 3.7 percentage points to 25.2 percent while that of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) increased 1.4 percentage points to 40.3 percent.
The decline is likely attributable to the controversy caused by three LKP lawmakers, the poll agency said, failing to attract support for the LKP's election campaign to elect a leader at its national convention which has been considered one of party's biggest events of the year and a prime chance to win support from people.
The three, Reps. Kim Jin-tae, Kim Soon-rye and Lee Jong-myeong, have come under fire for holding a seminar at the National Assembly, Feb. 8 where invited speaker, far-right figure Jee Man-won, insisted North Korean troops were involved in the pro-democracy movement. In the seminar, the lawmakers echoed Jee's views and made controversial remarks against the movement calling the victims of a government crackdown “monsters.”
Later, the LKP's Ethics Committee decided to expel Lee from the party for making the remarks while suspending punitive measures against the other lawmakers as they are exempted from this due to a party regulation regarding leadership candidates.
In every region, mainly from the LKP's main strongholds Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province and among most age groups, the party's approval rating has dropped while the DPK gained support there and in the Chungcheong provinces.
The minor progressive Justice Party won 7 percent support while the minor conservative Bareunmirae Party and the Party for Democracy and Peace gained 6 percent and 2.8 percent support respectively.
Meanwhile, President Moon Jae-in's approval rating dropped slightly in the same period, with his economic policies being overshadowed by the LKP controversy, the pollster added.
Moon's approval rating stood at 49.8 percent, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous week.
“Moon's moves such as visiting Busan and having meetings with small companies and self-employed people aimed to boost the economy were overshadowed by the escalating controversy following the LKP's governing body's decision to remove a member from the party for his defamatory remarks and the other four parties' alliance to push for a bill to punish those who make such defamatory remarks.”
It also added that the low employment rate and poor economic data as well as the Moon administration's decision to block “harmful” websites had a negative impact on his approval rating.