S. Korean presidential frontrunner widens gap with runner-up in opinion polls

The South Korean presidential frontrunner has widened a gap with his runner-up in recent opinion polls just two weeks before a presidential by-election to replace impeached President Park Geun-hye.

According to a poll released Wednesday, Moon Jae-in of the biggest Minjoo Party won 40.4 percent in approval scores, higher than 26.4 percent tallied by Ahn Cheol-soo of the center-right People's Party.

The result was based on a survey of 1,000 voters conducted by local pollster Hankook Research from Monday to Tuesday.

Around two weeks earlier, the gap between Moon and Ahn narrowed to less than 1 percent, but support for Ahn tumbled amid controversy over his attitude in recent TV debates.

Hong Joon-pyo of the former ruling Liberty Korea Party ranked third with 10.8 percent, trailed by Sim Sang-jung of the minor progressive Justice Party and Yoo Seong-min of the minor conservative Righteous Party who gained 8.0 percent and 5.1 percent each in support scores.

The presidential by-election was scheduled for May 9 as former President Park was impeached and arrested last month over corruption allegations.

Support for conservative politicians fell with Park's impeachment, hitting Hong and Yoo who are rightist and right-wing politicians respectively.

Sim has been described as the best discussant in recent TV debates, but she did not secure higher approval rating on speculation that support for Sim could weaken support for Moon and may fail to transfer presidential power to the Minjoo Party. Endit