Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Nomination scandals, weak currency drive president's support lower
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at Cheong Wa Dae in central Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
By Anna J. Park
Lee Jae Myung's approval ratings drop despite diplomatic wins
President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating fell last week for the first time in almost a month, slipping to 53.1 percent, while support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) also declined after four straight weeks of gains — a shift that has prompted fresh questions about what is driving the slide.
Despite the administration’s emphasis on diplomatic gains from Lee’s recent visits to China and Japan, analysts said concerns about a weakening won against the U.S. dollar and younger voters’ perceptions of fairness in ongoing political controversies have weighed heavily on support, particularly among people in their 20s.
A survey conducted by Realmeter last week found that 53.1 percent approved of Lee’s job performance, down 3.7 percentage points from the previous week. The disapproval rate rose 4.4 points to 42.2 percent, while 4.8 percent remained undecided.
Approval ratings declined across all regions and age groups, with the steepest drop seen in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province — a traditional conservative stronghold — where positive assessments of Lee’s performance fell 8 percentage points to 48 percent. By age group, support among voters in their 20s dropped the most, plunging more than 10 percentage points to 33.5 percent.
Realmeter said daily tracking data showed a clear downward trend toward the end of last week.
“Although there were economic and diplomatic achievements, including the KOSPI [main bourse] surpassing the 4,800-point mark and the Korea-Japan summit, approval declined as internal disputes over prosecutorial reform and renewed ethics controversies involving ruling party figures resurfaced,” Realmeter said.
The survey showed that the DPK suffered a sharper drop in support as investigations intensified into alleged nomination fund scandals involving former party members Kang Sun-woo and Kim Byung-kee, while tensions between the party and the government over legislation for a major crimes investigation agency added to internal divisions.
In contrast, support for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) rebounded, with Realmeter citing a special prosecutor’s recent decision to seek the death penalty for ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his December 2024 martial law bid, along with the expulsion of former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, as factors rallying conservative voters, particularly in the party’s strongholds.
Graphic by Cho Sang-won
Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, said the drop in approval reflected public anxiety over the Korean currency, which has neared the psychologically sensitive threshold of 1,500 won per dollar, as well as dissatisfaction among young voters over perceived fairness issues under the Lee administration.
“The stock market hitting new highs doesn’t mean much when the Korean won has depreciated so sharply,” Shin told The Korea Times. “For people in their 20s, rising stock prices don’t feel like gains once you factor in the rising exchange rate. Housing prices have risen, but not significantly in dollar terms. This is inflation and a decline in the value of the won, so the government’s emphasis on the KOSPI reaching 5,000 has little impact on them.”
Shin added that young voters seemed particularly angered by Lee’s appointment of Lee Hye-hoon, the nominee to lead the newly created Ministry of Planning and Budget, who has been portrayed in media reports as having mistreated aides and engaged in other misconduct, as well as by a string of fairness-related controversies within the ruling party, including the nomination fund scandals.
“Diplomacy may be one of the administration’s strengths, but for a small country like Korea, these achievements do not necessarily translate into tangible benefits for ordinary citizens,” he said.
Lee Jun-han, a political professor at Incheon National University, urged caution in interpreting the results, noting that this marked the first decline in three weeks and could be a temporary fluctuation.
“If the downward trend continues for another week or two, then we can say the decline has taken hold,” Lee said. “For now, it may simply be a one-off change. With ARS surveys like Realmeter’s, it is better to observe for another week or two before drawing conclusions.”
The approval rating survey polled 2,516 voters nationwide aged 18 and older, with a response rate of 4.5 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. The party support survey, conducted over Thursday and Friday among 1,004 voters, had a 3.8 percent response rate and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 points. Both surveys were conducted using automated random-digit dialing on mobile phones.