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President Lee's approval rating slips to 56%

Published: 12 Dec. 2025, 15:00

President Lee Jae Myung, right, and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, left, head to a policy briefing by the Ministry of Science and ICT in the administrative city of Sejong on Dec. 12. [YONHAP]

President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating fell to 56 percent this week, according to a poll on Friday.

The survey by Gallup Korea, conducted Tuesday through Thursday on 1,000 respondents aged 18 and up, showed that the positive assessment of Lee's overall performance dropped 6 percentage points from the previous week.

The negative assessment rose by 5 percentage points to 34 percent, and 9 percent of participants said they were undecided.

At 28 percent, participants most frequently cited diplomacy as a reason for their positive evaluation, followed by his leadership in economic and livelihood issues at 14 percent.

Among the negative responses, 15 percent pointed to concerns over the economy, and 9 percent cited Lee's ethics.

A former official of the Unification Church has testified to a special counsel team that illicit funds may have been provided from the church to politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties.

Although the survey did not directly ask about allegations that politicians from the Democratic Party (DP) received political funds from the Unification Church, Gallup said the ongoing speculation involving the DP may have contributed to a rise in negative assessments.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and a 95 percent confidence level.

Yonhap