Lee's approval rating inches up to 53.6%: poll

President Lee Jae Myung, right, accompanied by his wife, Kim Hea Kyung, heads home from Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, following his first summit talks with U.S. President Donald Trump the previous day, Aug. 26. Yonhap

President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating rose for the second consecutive week to 53.6 percent, a survey showed Monday.

According to the Realmeter survey commissioned by a local news outlet, the positive assessment of Lee's performance rose 2.2 percentage points from the previous week, while the negative assessment fell 2.6 percentage points to 42.3 percent.

Lee's approval rating had rebounded slightly last week after declining for two straight weeks amid controversies over his special pardons for political figures on Liberation Day and proposed tax code revisions on stock investment.

Realmeter attributed the positive evaluation to Lee's diplomatic and economic achievements, including his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last week.

The survey was conducted on 2,537 adults from Monday to Friday last week and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, with a confidence rate of 95 percent.

In a separate survey conducted by the same pollster on 1,006 individuals aged 18 and over Thursday and Friday, the approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea rose 0.9 percentage point to 46.7 percent.

Support for the main opposition People Power Party also added 0.6 percentage point to 36.1 percent.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence rate of 95 percent.