Seoul, (Samajweekly) South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating fell for the first time in three weeks following the intrusion of North Korean drones into the country’s airspace last week, a poll showed on Monday.
In the poll of 2,511 voters conducted by Realmeter from December 26-30, 2022, 40 per cent positively assessed Yoon’s job performance, down 1.2 percentage points from the previous week, reports Yonhap News Agency.
Yoon’s disapproval rating was 57.2 per cent, up 0.6 percentage point.
The fall could be attributable to North Korea’s drone infiltration last week and public criticism that the government did not respond properly to the provocation, Bae Cheol-ho, a senior analyst at Realmeter, said.
On December 26, the North sent five unmanned aerial vehicles into the South, with one of them having flown all the way to northern Seoul.
The South Korean military failed to shoot them down, raising questions over its readiness posture.
Bae added that Yoon’s remarks on Pyongyang’s actions, such as “firm retaliation” and the need to “overwhelmingly prepare for superior war”, increased the sense of public insecurity.
On the favourability rating of political parties, the ruling People Power Party garnered 39.2 per cent support, down 1.8 percentage points from the previous week, while the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) registered 45.5 per cent, up 2.6 percentage points.
The DP’s favourability rating seems to have increased as the party’s supporters gathered against the prosecution’s investigation into bribery cases allegedly connected to party leader Lee Jae-myung
