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Majority of Koreans hold out little hope for Yoon's US visit
President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee disembark from the presidential jet at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Monday (local time), for a six-day state visit to the United States. Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
By Jun Ji-hye
More than 50 percent of Koreans said that they don't feel particularly hopeful about President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the United States, according to an opinion poll released Wednesday.
President Yoon arrived in Washington on Monday (local time) for a six-day visit during what is a symbolic year, with the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance on the horizon.
In the poll of 1,010 adults over the age of 18, 54.5 percent of the respondents said Yoon's state visit would not be helpful for the country.
The poll was conducted jointly by Kookmin Research Group and Ace Research from Saturday to Monday.
Those who said the state visit would benefit the nation accounted for 42.8 percent.
By region, there was a more negative outlook in all parts of the country, except the conservative strongholds of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province. Still, these regions posted no significant differences between the positive and negative outlooks ― 48.1 percent to 47.2 percent respectively.
By age group, people in their 60s or older were the only respondents who gave a more positive response (55.4 percent) to Yoon's state visit.
Among supporters of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), 85.4 percent gave negative responses, while 84.1 percent of supporters of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) replied positively.
Among political independents, 63.5 percent were negative, and 31.5 percent were positive about Yoon's state visit.
Meanwhile, a separate poll by the same pollsters showed that Yoon's approval rating, which had been on a downward slide in recent weeks, rebounded slightly to 36.7 percent, up 0.8 percentage points from the second week of April.
“The figure partially reflects people's expectations towards Yoon's state visit to the United States,” Kookmin Research Group and Ace Research said in their report. “If synergy effects of this visit become visible, the figure is expected to rise further.”
The highest approval rating of 44.1 percent came from Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, followed by 39.3 percent coming from Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province and 38.8 percent from Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.
By age group, those aged 60 and older offered the highest approval rating of 51.7 percent to President Yoon, followed by 33.6 percent from people in their 50s and 32 percent from people in their 30s.
Among PPP supporters, 76.9 percent supported President Yoon, while 91.9 percent of DPK supporters did not approve of him.
Among political independents, 23.1 percent were supportive of the president, while 71.5 percent were unsupportive.
When asked the reasons for a positive response toward President Yoon, 28.9 percent cited his determination in pushing international and domestic issues, while 25.7 percent and 15.2 percent cited his efforts to enhance the Korea-U.S. alliance and reform the labor sector, respectively.
Among those unsupportive of the president, 42.6 percent cited the instability in foreign and security affairs, apparently because of a series of controversies over Yoon's remarks including his indication of support for sending lethal aid to Ukraine ― remarks that he made during a recent Reuters interview.