S. Korean president's approval rating moderately falls for 3 weeks

SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating moderately fell for three straight weeks on controversy over hiring irregularities in the public sector, a poll showed Thursday.

According to the Realmeter survey, support for Moon was 69.5 percent this week, down 1.3 percentage points from a week earlier.

It was based on the survey of 1,507 voters conducted from Monday to Wednesday. It had 2.5 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.

The support scores moderately declined to 70.8 percent last week from 71.2 percent the previous week.

President Moon on Monday ordered a stern punishment against any irregularity in recruiting new employees in the public corporations as many cases of illegal recruiting were reported by local media.

Support for Moon's ruling Democratic Party gained 4.2 percentage points over the week to 53.3 percent this week.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party garnered 19 percent in approval rating, followed by the centrist People's Party with 6.1 percent.

The minor conservative Righteous Party gained 4.7 percent of support, while the minor progressive Justice Party earned 3.5 percent. Enditem