hankyoreh

Then-Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl takes questions from reporters after announcing his resignation at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul on March 4. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

Public polls on suitability for the next president of South Korea show former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl taking a definite lead.

Yoon came out ahead, at 39.1%, in a poll of presidential job fitness published Monday. Trailing Yoon by more than the margin of error were Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, at 21.7%, and former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yon, at 11.9%.

This poll of 1,007 adults around the country was carried out on Friday and Saturday by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) at the request of TBS. It had a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ±3.1 points.

Compared to last week’s poll, Yoon’s support was up by 1.9 points, while Lee Jae-myung and Lee Nak-yon’s support fell by 2.5 and 1.4 points, respectively.

Other presidential hopefuls in the poll were independent lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo (5.9%), former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae (2.7%), former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min (2.7%), and Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (1.9%).

Yoon enjoyed strong support among people aged 60 and above (53.8%); people in their 50s (43.7%); residents of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province (50.1%); residents of Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province (46.9%); conservatives (58.5%); moderates (43.5%); those who think the president is doing a poor job (60.5%); and supporters of the People Power Party (72.4%).

Lee Jae-myung had a high level of support among people in their 40s (34.7%), progressives (41.9%), those who think the president is doing a good job (48.8%), and supporters of the Democratic Party (48.1%). But compared to last week, his support dropped sharply among people in their 20s (22.0% to 11.1%, a 10.9 point drop) and residents of Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province (23.5% to 15.9%, a 7.6 point drop).

The president’s job approval and ruling party support declined simultaneously. 34.0% of respondents approved of Moon’s performance as president and 63.0% disapproved, with approval falling 2.9 points and disapproval rising 3.0 points relative to last week’s poll.

The poll also found that the People Power Party was supported by 30.3% of respondents and the Democratic Party by 27.2%. Minor parties in the poll included the People Party (9.6%), the Open Democratic Party (5.8%), and the Justice Party (4.7%).

The Democratic Party’s support was down 3.1 points from the previous week, a decline that the KSOI attributed to allegations of speculation by executives at the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH).

In the poll, the KSOI also asked respondents what they thought about Justice Minister Park Beom-kye exercising his investigative oversight to order a fresh investigation into allegations that prosecutors investigating campaign finance violations committed by former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook had ordered witnesses to give false testimony.

45.2% of respondents said this was an inappropriate measure that undermined the neutrality of the prosecutors’ investigation, while 39.2% said the measure was aimed at correcting the prosecutors’ unfair investigative practices.

More details can be found on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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