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Nearly 9 of 10 S. Koreans have negative view of government

November 9, 2014

Although South Korean President Park Geun-hye has an approval rating of 46 percent, almost 90 percent of South Koreans disapprove of the National Assembly as a whole.

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) — Nearly nine out of 10 South Koreans disapprove of the National Assembly’s job performance due mainly to perennial political wrangling, a poll showed Friday.

According to the survey on 1,011 adults taken by Gallup Korea, 89 percent of the respondents said that Korean lawmakers are not carrying out their role properly, up from 65 percent in a similar poll conducted in June.

Of them, 20 percent cited a persistent political standoff and the lack of communication, followed by 14 percent with lawmakers’ maintenance of privileges and 10 percent with failure to handle bills.

The survey said that 61 percent of those polled disapprove of the ruling Saenuri Party’s job performance, up from 43 percent in the June poll.

The respondents also gave poor marks to the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), with 80 percent disapproving of the opposition party’s job performance.

Approval ratings for the ruling party and the NPAD came to 45 percent and 20 percent each, with the figure for President Park Geun-hye standing at 46 percent, according to the survey.

The survey, conducted from Tuesday to Thursday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.