S.Korean president posts lowest approval rating at 26 pct

South Korean President Park Geun-hye's approval rating declined to the lowest since she took office in 2013 amid suspected irregularities surrounding the president's close aides, a local pollster said Friday.

Support rate for Park's state management stood at 26 percent this week, down 3 percentage points from the previous week, according to Gallup Korea's survey of 1,026 adults conducted between Oct. 11 and 13.

It was the lowest since Park took office in February 2013, keeping a downward momentum for four straight weeks.

Lack of communications is a key factor that respondents picked as a major reason for their negative assessment.

Approval rating for the ruling Saenuri Party slid to 28 percent, the lowest since the Park administration was launched about three and a half years ago.

The simultaneous slide in approval ratings for Park and her party followed a series of suspected irregularities surrounding Park's close aides.

Opposition lawmakers and progressive news organizations shed light on the Mir Foundation and the K-Sports Foundation that were established by donations from a group of conglomerates. The donations may have allegedly been made forcibly as it is suspected of involving close aides to President Park

Woo Byung-woo, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, has been suspected of receiving preferential treatment in selling his family's real estate in central Seoul. During last week's parliamentary inspection of government offices, rival parties clashed over the case which is under the prosecutors' probe.

Three opposition parties are seeking to look more closely into the death of the late farmer Baek Nam-ki through the permanent independent counsel system, while the ruling party is opposing the move.

The farmer died late last month after having been unconscious in hospital since Nov. 14 last year when he suffered a brain hemorrhage during a rally due to a water cannon fired by riot police. Enditem