President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee board the presidential jet to return home following their trip to Laos for an ASEAN summit, Oct. 11 (local time). Yonhap President loses policy momentum as approval ratings hit lowest By Lee Hyo-jin President Yoon Suk Yeol reached the halfway point of his five-year term, Sunday, but there is little to celebrate.
His midterm report card is marked by an approval rating below 20 percent, making Yoon one of Korea’s least popular leaders at this stage of a presidency. Analysts attribute Yoon's plummeting ratings to policy missteps, poor communication with the public and ongoing controversies involving his wife Kim Keon Hee. These factors have become major hurdles for the president in his attempts to carry out his reform agenda.
The conservative president took office in May 2022 with an initial approval rating of around 53 percent. However, a Gallup Korea poll released Friday shows his rating has plummeted to 17 percent — the lowest in his term so far. Yoon's current approval rating is significantly lower than those of his predecessors at the same point in their terms.
Former progressive President Moon Jae-in held a 45 percent rating in November 2019, while conservative President Park Geun-hye's approval rating stood at 34 percent in August 2015, according to Gallup Korea, which has conducted weekly evaluations of presidential job performance since 2012. The deepening public dissatisfaction with Yoon is seen in large-scale ralli.
