President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating rose for the second consecutive week to 48.9 percent, according to a new poll, fueled by positive views of his recent diplomatic efforts.
Realmeter, commissioned by EKN newspaper, surveyed 2,515 adults from July 6 through July 10 and found the president's approval rating at 48.9 percent, up 1.9 percentage points from the prior week. Negative assessments fell 1.5 points to 47.7 percent.
Realmeter linked the increase to Lee's diplomatic and security achievements, including his participation in the NATO summit and side bilateral meetings that the pollster said strengthened South Korea-NATO defense cooperation. Lee attended the NATO summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in his first appearance at the annual gathering since taking office in June last year.
In a separate Realmeter survey of 1,002 adults conducted Thursday and Friday, support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea rose 1.8 points to 44.8 percent, while the main opposition People Power Party fell 2.2 points to 38.1 percent. The poll margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
