Park’s approval rating jumps after gravesite visits

The public approval rating of the Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye showed an upward curve over the past week, apparently boosted by her visits to the graves of former presidents supported by the opposition camp, pollsters said yesterday.

In what the ruling party called “national unity” visits, Park visited the graves of former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun the day after her win in Saenuri’s presidential primary race on Aug. 20.

She also met with the widows of the two former presidents who are widely respected by presidential candidates of the main opposition Democratic United Party.

In a poll by Realmeter, Park’s approval rating jumped from 45.3 percent on Aug. 20 to 48.4 percent on Tuesday, while the rating of her potential rival and software mogul-turned-professor Ahn Cheol-soo fell from 48.7 percent to 45.8 percent in the same period.

Between Wednesday and Friday, Park’s approval ratings stood at between 48.7 percent and 49.8 percent, compared with Ahn’s range of 44.3 percent to 45.4 percent, Realmeter poll showed.

Pollsters forecast Park’s approval rating may fall again after the main opposition party elects its own candidate.

Yonhap