Lee ranks above past 3 presidents

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Lee ranks above past 3 presidents

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Nearly half of the nation gives President Lee Myung-bak positive marks for his performance during the past two years, about 10 percentage points higher than midterm ratings of the past three presidents.

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of Lee’s presidential inauguration.

In the poll conducted by the Joong-Ang Ilbo and Hankook Research, 46 percent of those surveyed gave a positive review to Lee’s performance, with 8.5 percent of those saying Lee’s work was excellent and the rest giving him a “good” rating.

While 4.6 percent had no response, 49.4 percent gave Lee negative marks, including 13.9 percent who said Lee’s performance was very poor.

More than 33 percent said Lee’s performance was particularly good in managing the country’s economy, while 28.5 percent gave high marks to his diplomatic efforts.

The telephone poll was conducted on Monday with 700 people nationwide. The survey has a 95 percent confidence level.

The Blue House yesterday released a press release featuring Lee’s achievements over the past two years. Earning the chance to host the Group of 20 Summit, winning a nuclear reactor construction bid with the United Arab Emirates, economic leadership to escape the global financial crisis and implementation of low-carbon, green growth policies were named as key achievements.

While the new poll showed that Lee was highly rated for leadership in policy making and implementation, the president’s ability to communicate with the public received low marks.

“Although the approval rating of Lee’s performance has remained at the 50 percent level for some time, only about 30 percent have a favorable image of Lee,” a Blue House aide in charge of political affairs said.

Perhaps an indication of Lee’s problems is reflected by declining public support for his plan to rewrite the development plan of Sejong City in South Chungcheong.

In the poll, 43.5 percent said they support Lee’s plan to develop the city as a science and education hub instead of relocating government offices there. However, 45.7 percent said they disagree with the revision.

Those numbers are a turnaround from last month. In a January poll by the JoongAng Ilbo, 49.9 percent said they supported the revision, while 40 percent were opposed.

Lee was quoted by spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye as telling his cabinet yesterday that “in the third year of my term, the government will make an all-out effort to stop corruption in the education sector as well as perennial irregularities involving public servants, local notables and regional media. As long as the Korean society is marred by corruption, we cannot become an advanced, world-class nation.”

“The president virtually declared a war on corruption for the rest of his term,” Kim said.


By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]
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