S. Korean president popular despite controversy, shows survey

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in kept his approval rating at a relatively high level despite controversy over security issues, a survey showed Monday.

According to local pollster Realmeter, Moon's support rate was 74.2 percent last week, down 1.4 percentage points from a week earlier.

The support scores fell for the second consecutive week, but Moon's rating was higher than his predecessors tallied in an early presidency. Moon came into office on May 10.

Moon Jae-in (C) talks with a retailer as he visits a market in Seoul, South Korea on January 3, 2017. /VCG Photo

The result was based on a poll of 2,531 voters conducted from last Monday to Friday. It has 1.9 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.

The fall in support for Moon came amid controversy over comments, which made in Washington by Moon Chung-in, the president's special advisor on security, unification and foreign affairs.

The presidential special advisor said on June 16 that if the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) stops any nuclear and missile provocations, the South Korea-US joint military exercises and the deployment of the US military strategic assets in South Korea could be scaled down through discussions with the US side.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party denounced the adviser's comments, worrying about the weakening of the US-South Korea alliance.

‍South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks at a ceremony to mark Korean Memorial Day at the National Cemetery in Seoul on June 5, 2017. /VCG Photo

A fraction of conservative voters withdrew their support for Moon because of his special advisor's comments, but Moon's approval rating remained at a high level.

Moon was scheduled to leave for Washington on Wednesday for the two-day summit meeting with US President Donald Trump.

The issue of DPRK's nuclear and missile program was expected to be one of the main agendas during the upcoming summit.

Meanwhile, Moon's ruling Democratic Party garnered 53.6 percent of support last week, unchanged from the previous week.

It was followed by the Liberty Korea Party with 14.5 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from a week earlier.

Approval ratings for the centrist People's Party and the minor progressive Justice Party stood both at 6.3 percent. The minor conservative Righteous Party gained 6.2 percent in support scores.

(Source: Xinhua)

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