Yoon's approval rating rises to 40.4% after 6 weeks

Seoul, Feb 20 South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating has risen to over 40 per cent for the first time in six weeks on the back of a strengthened policy focus on economic and livelihood matters, a poll revealed on Monday.

In the poll of 2,504 adults conducted by Realmeter from February 13-17, the positive assessment of Yoon's performance rose 3.5 percentage points from a week earlier to 40.4 per cent, the biggest weekly gain in the poll conducted by Realmeter since he came to power last year, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The President's disapproval rating fell 2.8 percentage points to 57.5 per cent in the same period.

Realmeter said the gain could be attributable to the government putting more emphasis on tackling economic and livelihood issues.

In the wake of a public outcry over soaring heating bills, high interest rates and rising inflation, the government announced a plan to freeze railroad, postal and other public utility fees in the first half of the year to help ease people's economic burdens.

Yoon also called on the communications and financial industries to take part in sharing the people's economic burden by actively taking steps to contain prices.

"It's the result of focusing his message and policy on economic and livelihood matters that affect the public's lives the most," Bae Cheol-ho, a senior analyst at the pollster, said.

On the favourability rating of political parties, Yoon's People Power Party (PPP) garnered 45 per cent support, up 2.5 percentage points from the previous week, while support for the main opposition Democratic Party came in at 39.9 per cent, down 2.9 percentage points in the same period.