Moon's approval rating surges after inter-Korean summit

SEOUL, May 6 (UPI) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's public approval rate has surged after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month.

According to a Realmeter poll last week, Moon's 52nd week of presidency saw his approval rating surge by 7.4 percentage points from the previous week to 77.4 percent.

The rate of South Koreans who support Moon's running of state affairs represented the highest level since early last year, when public approval hit 84.1 percent in May and 78 percent in June, due to optimism surrounding the new administration.

Negative opinions on Moon handling of state affairs fell to 15.9 percent, down 8.9 percentage points from the week before.

The pollster said the inter-Korean summit on Apr. 27 accounted for much of the boost. Moon's approval figures climbed 3.1 percent overnight to 71 percent on the day of the summit.

Three days later, the rating rose a further 5.3 percentage points, and hit a high of 78.3 percent last Wednesday, amid speculation that the subsequent U.S.-North Korea summit would be held in the border village of Panmunjom where Moon and Kim's meeting took place.

However, concerns that Moon and Kim's agreement to pursue a peace treaty could lead to the pull out of scaling back of U.S. forces in the South, led to a drop in the approval rate, Money Today reported.

The survey was conducted on Apr. 30 and between May 2 to 4 on 2,002 South Korean adults. The confidence level was 95 percent with a margin of error of ±2.2 percentage points.