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S.Korean president's approval rating stays in single digits after national address

Xinhua, December 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korean President Park Geun-hye's approval rating stayed in the single digits even after the embattled president made her third address to the nation earlier this week, a local poll showed on Thursday.

Approval scores for Park was 9.8 percent this week, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous week, according to a survey of 1,518 voters conducted by local pollster Realmeter from Monday to Wednesday.

Park's daily support rate advanced to 10.9 percent on Tuesday when Park issued her third public speech since the scandal involving herself emerged in October.

The following day, her approval rating declined to 9.5 percent as Park failed to admit to her wrongdoings and denied any suspicions surrounding herself and her decades-long friend, Choi Soon-sil.

The scandal-hit president said Tuesday that she had not pursued any personal gains "for a flash" as she believed what she had one was in the public interests.

Prosecutors have said Park and Choi were complicit in extorting tens of millions of U.S. dollars from major conglomerates in return for granting business favors. Park has been also suspected of conniving at the leakage of confidential government documents to her longtime confidante.

Support for Park's ruling Saenuri Party was 16.3 percent, up 0.1 percentage point compared with the prior week.

It was sharply lower than 31.6 percent of support for the biggest opposition Minjoo Party. Minor oppositions People's Party and the Justice Party posted 15.3 percent and 5.9 percent each in approval scores.

Among presidential hopefuls, Lee Jae-myung, mayor of Seongnam city in Gyeonggi province, emerged as a dark horse as his approval rating jumped from 11.9 percent to 15.1 percent.

Lee ranked third, coming closer to Moon Jae-in, former Minjoo Party chairman who competed with President Park in the 2012 presidential election. Moon maintained the first place with support rate of 20.7 percent.

The Seongnam mayor is famous for his welfare policies and active participation in the campaign to let President Park step down.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose tenure ends this year, ranked the second with approval rating of 18.2 percent. He has not expressed his clear will to run for presidency, but he has been regarded as one of presidential hopefuls. Enditem