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South Korean President Moon Jae-in attends the fourth South Korea-Central American Integration System summit via videoconference on Friday at the Blue House. (Yonhap News)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s job approval rating hit 40% for the first time in four months.

Gallup Korea said Friday that Moon’s approval had risen by 2 points to 40% in a poll of 1002 voters around the country carried out from Tuesday to Thursday. The poll had a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Moon’s approval rating had been below 40% for four months since the third week of March, following a land speculation scandal at the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH).

51% of respondents disapproved of Moon’s job as president.

The most common reasons for giving Moon a positive rating were his handling of COVID-19 and foreign policy and international relations, both at 27%. Others credited Moon for doing his best (6%) and for expanding welfare (4%).

Respondents who gave Moon a poor job rating cited his real estate policy (25%), inadequate solutions to economic issues (15%) and double standards and unfairness (7%).

In terms of political parties, the ruling Democratic Party saw its support rise 1 point from last week to 32%. The main opposition People Power Party remained at 30%, the same as the previous week.

In the economic forecast, optimism prevailed. When asked about the prospects of the Korean economy over the coming year, the largest share of respondents (38%) said the economy will get better, while 30% said it will remain the same and 28% said it will worsen.

52% of respondents said their household finances will remain about the same over the next year, while 25% said their finances will improve and 20% said they’ll worsen.

“Economic pessimism had predominated for 35 months in a row, from June 2018 to April 2021. But since May, pessimism has given way to optimism. The latest forecast is similar to what we saw in May 2018, immediately after the inter-Korean summit on April 27. That was when economic prospects were at their brightest under the current administration,” a spokesperson for Gallup Korea said.

“While we haven’t escaped from COVID-19 yet, people’s hopes for an economic recovery appear to have been boosted by the acceleration of the domestic vaccination program,” the spokesperson said.

By Jang Na-rye, staff reporter

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