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| President Moon Jae-in delivers a speech during a memorial ceremony marking the 39th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, held last Saturday at the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
President Moon Jae-in's job approval rating rose slightly this week, a poll showed Monday, while support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) recorded its highest rating in seven months.
In the poll of 2,512 adults over 19 conducted by Realmeter from May 13 to 17, Moon's job approval rating came to 49.4 percent, up 0.8 percentage points from another Realmeter poll the week before.
Some 46 percent disapproved of Moon's job performance in the latest poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level, down 1 percentage point from the week before.
The poll comes amid recent controversies surrounding the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), including its floor leader Rep. Na Kyung-won's derogatory remarks attacking Moon and his supporters as well as its leader Hwang Kyo-ahn's unwelcome visit to Gwangju last Saturday to attend a ceremony marking the 39th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement.
The LKP leadership has been criticized for not punishing its members for their distortions and disparagement of the pro-democratic uprising
Support for the DPK gained 3.6 percentage points from the week before to reach 42.3 percent in the latest poll, the highest since it hit 42.7 percent in the third week of last October and widening the gap with the LKP to 11.2 percentage points.
Some 31.1 percent showed support for the LKP, down 3.2 percentage points from the earlier poll. Before, the LKP saw an increase in support for four consecutive weeks from the second week of April (30.8 percent).
At the memorial ceremony in Gwangju last Saturday, Moon called on the National Assembly to take up the challenge of uncovering the truth of the Gwangju Uprising by launching a truth commission, while also calling on parties to end their confrontations over the issue.
Moon legislated a special act last March to create the commission to investigate former President Chun Doo-hwan who allegedly ordered the military attack on protesters in Gwangju, killing hundreds of citizens there.
