Moon's 5-year presidency gets approval rating of 42.1%

About 42 percent of South Koreans think that President Moon Jae-in did a good job in handling state affairs over the past five years, an approval rating slighly higher than the vote he received in the 2017 presidential election, a poll showed Wednesday.

Moon, who was elected president with 41.1 percent of the vote, has enjoyed relatively high approval ratings through his term so far, compared with his predecessors. His single-five year term ends in May after the March 9 presidential election.

The latest survey of 1,056 adults, conducted by R&Search on Monday and Tuesday, put the approval rating of Moon's five-year performance at 42.1 percent, while 52 percent of the respondents disapproved of his job performance.

By age group, people in their 40s and 50s positively responded to Moon's works, while people in their 20s and 60s viewed Moon's works negatively. The poll showed that 57.2 percent of people aged 40 and 49 and 45.2 percent of people aged 50 and 59 approved of Moon's jobs.

In comparison, 58.4 percent of those aged 20-29 and those aged 60 and older disapproved of Moon's work.

Moon's real estate policy was cited as the biggest source of disapproval, with 41.8 percent of the respondents expressing dissatisfaction over surging home prices.

Other irritant policies included the appointment of Cho Kuk as justice minister. Cho stepped down shortly after taking office because of allegations of academic fraud involving his daughter.

Moon's nuclear phase-out policy and a recent pardon of ex-President Park Geun-hye were also included on a list of irritant policies, according to the poll. (Yonhap)