Yoon’s approval continues to fall after Japan summit

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating has dropped to its lowest level in about four months, as negative public opinion has continued to emerge after his summit in Japan with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Gallup Korea asked 1,000 people between March 28-30 whether they thought President Yoon was doing his job well, and the result was 30 percent positive and 60 percent negative.

Compared to a week ago, positive evaluation decreased by 4 percentage points and negative evaluation increased by 2 percentage points, widening the gap between positive and negative evaluations from 24 percentage points to 30 percentage points.

Yoon’s approval rating had continued to rise to 37 percent until the end of last month due to his strong drive for labor reform and the eradication of union corruption. However, since March 1, when he gave a commemorative speech stressing a partnership with Japan and proposed a third-party compensation plan for forced labor victims during the Japanese colonial period, his approval rating began to drop.

As for the reasons for positive evaluation, diplomacy (12 percent), labor union response (9 percent), improvement of relations with Japan (9 percent), national defense and security (5 percent) were cited.

The reasons for negative ratings were diplomacy (21 percent), Japanese relations/forced labor compensation issues (20 percent), economy/people's livelihood/prices (8 percent), experience/lack of qualifications/incompetence (5 percent) and lack of communication (5 percent).