Yoon's approval rating inches up to 38.8%: poll

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a meeting with a group of spouses and children of soldiers, police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty to give them words of encouragement at the presidential office in Seoul, Dec. 22. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating inched up from the previous week to 38.8 percent, a poll showed Sunday.

The rating rose by 0.8 percentage point from a week earlier, while the negative assessment fell by 0.9 percentage point to 58.2 percent, according to the survey conducted by RnSearch and commissioned by broadcaster CBS on 1,020 people aged 18 and over from Wednesday to Friday.

The negative assessment of Yoon was higher than the positive assessment in all age groups, except for respondents over 70, the survey also showed.

The approval ratings of the two major rival parties moved in opposite directions.

Support for the ruling People Power Party (PPP) was 38.1 percent, up 3.5 percentage points, while that of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) fell 0.6 percentage point to 45.7 percent.

The proportion of people who do not support any party came to 12.2 percent.

Meanwhile, former Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, designated to be the ruling party's interim leader, was cited as the most suitable person for the position with 34.3 percent of support, followed by Construction Minister Won Hee-ryong with 9 percent, according to the survey.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a credibility rate of 95 percent. (Yonhap)