Yoon's approval rating 'unchanged' after opposition leader's conviction: poll

President Yoon Suk Yeol's job approval rating has remained unchanged for two straight months, despite Yoon's handling of foreign affairs during his trip to the South American countries and the conviction of the opposition leader for election law offenses the previous week.

According to Gallup Korea's weekly poll result of 1,001 respondents released Friday, Yoon's popularity came to 20 percent. His job disapproval rating edged up 1 percentage point to 72 percent compared to the previous week, which was within the margin of error.

Controversies surrounding Yoon's wife Kim Keon Hee and soaring consumer prices were cited as the main reasons behind the disapproval of Yoon, the poll found. On the other hand, Yoon's efforts in foreign affairs were the biggest reasons cited for positive feedback on Yoon's state affairs.

Yoon returned to South Korea Thursday morning, wrapping up his itineraries in South America. Yoon attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru and the Group of 20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

On the sidelines, Yoon met US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in a bid to institutionalize a three-way alliance, and asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to take action amid growing concerns about the military cooperation between North Korea and Russia in a one-on-one meeting.

Yoon's popularity has remained in the low-to-mid 20 percent range from late August until late October. Yoon's popularity dipped to the mid-to-high 10 percent range in early November for two weeks, but saw a recovery on Nov. 15 to 20 percent.

Meanwhile, the same Gallup Korea poll suggested that public view of the criminal conviction of Yoon's political rival Rep. Lee Jae-myung in a district court on Nov. 15 was divided.

Among 1,001 respondents, 43 percent showed approval of the ruling -- which handed down a suspended one-year prison term for a violation of the Election Act -- while 42 percent responded that the ruling was "political persecution."