Park’s approval rating stays lowest level for 3 weeks

Park’s approval rating stays lowest level for 3 weeks. November. 19, 2016 07:07. by Taeck-Dong Chang will71@donga.com.

President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating is staying at the lowest level of 5 percent for three consecutive weeks in the aftermath of the Choi Soon-sil gate. President Park is poised to resume state administration, but deteriorating public opinion and the ongoing prosecutorial investigation will likely serve as variables to her bid.

According to a weekly opinion poll of 1,007 men and women nationwide conducted by Gallup Korea on Tuesday through Thursday (confidence level of 95 percent, and error margin of ±3.1 percent), the respondents who gave a positive view on Park’s state administration only amounted to 5 percent. Respondents who had a negative view of the president’s state administration came at 90 percent, which is the same level of last week's and the highest level since her inauguration.

There were some factors that could have potentially affected Park’s approval rating, including the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president, aggravating national security and economic concerns, and a planned meeting with main opposition Minjoo Party leader Choo Mi-ae and its cancellation 14 hours later, but they hardly influenced her approval rating.

The ruling Saenuri Party’s approval rating is also going from bad to worse. The party saw its approval rating decline 2 percentage points to 15 percent, which was less than half that of the Minjoo Party (31 percent). Saenuri was leading the People’s Party (14 percent) within a range of error margin, and is thus close to losing its runner-up status in approval rating.

Despite this, President Park awarded certificates of appointment to presidential aides and a vice minister at the presidential office, and letters of credence to ambassadors on Friday, as she is accelerating her bid to resume state administration. It is the first time in eight days since her summit meeting with visiting Kazakhstani president on Nov. 10, and the first time since the candlelight vigils of 1 million people on last Saturday.

Earlier, Park nominated the second vice foreign minister, and instructed prosecutors to thoroughly investigate corruptions surrounding the LCT development project in Busan on Wednesday, and nominated the second vice culture, sports and tourism minister on Thursday, kicking off her bid to resume state administration. She is also planning to take part in the Korea-China-Japan summit scheduled in Japan next month.

Park’s full-blown return to state administration will be gauged by whether she will preside over a cabinet meeting on next Tuesday. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will return home on that day after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (APEC) summit in Peru. “President Park is carrying out minimum of activities required to maintain state administration,” a presidential office source said. “The president is also cautiously considering presiding over the cabinet meeting as well.”

However, with candlelight vigils urging Park’s resignation set to take place again on Saturday and the opposition parties’ mounting voices calling for her stepdown, the embattled president will unlikely able to resume state administration in full swing. To what extent the prosecution will enlist the president’s roles in illicit activities when prosecutors indict Choi and other suspects on Sunday will likely affect the scope of Park’s activities.