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President Park’s approval rating jumps to yearly high following inter-Korean deal

August 31, 2015

South Korean President Park Geun-hye (Cheon Jin-hwan/Newsis)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — President Park Geun-hye’s job approval rating hit the highest level this year following a deal that defused military tensions with North Korea, a poll showed Monday.

A poll released by polling agency Realmeter showed 49.2 percent approved of the job Park is doing, up 8.2 percentage points from a week earlier.

Those who disapproved of Park’s job performance came to 45.4 percent, down 8.8 percentage points from a week earlier.

Last week, a separate poll conducted by polling agency Gallup Korea showed 49 percent approved of Park, up 15 percentage points from a week earlier.

The uptick is likely thanks to the deal reached between South and North Korea on Tuesday that eased tensions and paved the way for reuniting families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The two Koreas are set to hold Red Cross talks on Sept. 7 to arrange the reunions around Chuseok, a major holiday that is celebrated in both Koreas and falls on Sept. 27.

Hundreds of thousands of Koreans remain separated since the Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

Family reunions are a pressing humanitarian issue on the Korean Peninsula, as most separated family members are in their 70s and 80s, and wish to see their long-lost relatives before they die.

The survey was conducted on 2,500 adults from Aug. 24 through Aug. 28 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.