52.5% of Koreans back Moon's peace policy: poll

This infographic shows the results of a poll of 505 adults conducted by Realmeter on May 7, where 52.2 percent said they support President Moon Jae-in's peace policy, three days ahead of the second anniversary of Moon's inauguration. Courtesy of Realmeter

By Jung Da-min

There are mixed responses to President Moon Jae-in's "peace policy" days ahead of the second anniversary of his inauguration which falls May 10, a poll showed Wednesday.

In the poll of 505 adults over 19 conducted by Realmeter, Tuesday, 52.5 percent said they support Moon's peace efforts on the Korean Peninsula, while 44.7 percent said the policy was unsuccessful.

Some 28.5 percent said the policy was very successful while 29.1 percent felt it had gone very wrong.

The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points with a 95 percent of confidence level, was conducted three days after North Korea launched multiple projectiles into the sea off its east coast, which could have affected the strong disapproval rating on Moon's North Korea policy.

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Sunday that its military had deployed “large-caliber long-range multiple rocket launchers” to fire its new “tactical guided weapons.”

The government has taken a cautious stance on the North's latest launch of projectiles saying it would take more time to confirm whether North Korea had launched a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM).

The Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday that North Korea launched multiple short-range projectiles from 240 and 300 millimeter multiple rocket launchers (MRLs) which flew approximately 200 kilometers with an altitude of around 20 and 60 kilometers.

The ministry said it was conducting a detailed analysis to verify the facts of the test, noting its close coordination between with the U.S.

But it said Seoul did not see the move as “violation” of the Sept. 19 Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA) between the two Koreas reached at the third summit between Moon and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un last year.

Moon had a phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump, Tuesday, to discuss ways to respond to the North's launch of projectiles in a thoughtful manner to keep denuclearization talks on track.