Lee's approval rating inches up to 54.9%: poll

President Lee Jae Myung attends a town hall meeting with residents at the Korea University of Technology and Education in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Dec. 5. Yonhap

President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating slightly rebounded to 54.9 percent last week, a survey showed Monday, as the nation marked one year since former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid.

The survey by Realmeter commissioned by a local news outlet showed 54.9 percent gave a positive assessment of Lee's overall performance, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous week.

Negative assessment of Lee rose 1.4 percentage point to 42.1 percent.

Lee's messages on democracy, highlighted in his special national address marking the first anniversary of the martial law imposition and his push to designate Dec. 3 as a day for people's sovereignty, was a key factor that helped boost his approval rating, according to the pollster.

The upward trend weakened toward the end of the week amid negative sentiment over a court's dismissal of an arrest warrant for Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), among other issues.

The survey was conducted on 2,520 adults from Monday to Friday last week and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.

In a separate survey conducted by the same pollster on 1,008 individuals aged 18 and over on Thursday and Friday, the approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea fell 1.4 percentage point to 44.2 percent.

Support for the PPP also shed 0.4 percentage point to 37 percent.

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