President Moon Jae-in's approval ratings slipped further last week, weighed by the decision to replace his top two economic policymakers and national pension reform plans, a survey showed Monday.

According to the survey conducted by Realmeter, Moon’s approval rating came to 55.4 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from the week before. Negative assessments rose by 0.8 percentage points to 38.3 percent.

Realmeter noted that although the ratings have fallen for a sixth consecutive week, the rate of decline has slowed, and figures are hovering in the mid-50 percent range.

“The rating was similarly influenced by negative factors, such as the controversy over the national pension reforms and the replacement of two top economic policymakers, and positive factors, such as bipartisan meeting of parliamentary leaders and fine dust reduction measures,” the pollster analyzed.

Along with Moon’s figures, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s support fell to 40.7 percent, while the main opposition Liberty Korea Party saw its rating inch up 0.1 percentage point to 20.7 percent, the survey showed.


By Choi Ji-won (jwchoikr@heraldcorp.com)