By Hyunsu Yim
SEOUL (Reuters) – The approval rating of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol fell to the lowest since he took office in May 2022 in the latest Gallup Korea poll published on Friday.
Only 20% of those surveyed approved of Yoon’s performance, the poll showed, with his handling of medical reforms, the cost of living and his ability to communicate cited as factors by respondents taking part in the survey.
The president’s ruling conservative People Power Party suffered a heavy loss in April’s general election as the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea took 175 out of the 300 seats in the National Assembly.
The election was widely seen as a mid-term referendum on Yoon’s performance and since the vote his approval ratings have hovered below 30 percent.
Yoon enjoyed his highest approval rating at 53% in the Gallup Korea poll in June 2022, soon after his inaguration.
The Yoon administration has vowed to push ahead with reforms to address a shortage of doctors in the country by increasing the number of medical students admitted each year by 2,000.
But a months-long walkout by young doctors over the reforms has put a strain on the healthcare system and increased public criticism of the government’s handling of the dispute.
Against this backdrop, Yoon’s office said earlier this month it was open to revising parts of the plan.
Yoon has touted his foreign policy record as one of his strengths including overseeing improved ties with Tokyo despite historical issues stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonisation of the Korean peninsula.
The poll was conducted with 1,002 respondents surveyed by phone.
In a separate Realmeter poll released on Sept. 2, Yoon’s approval rating was at 29.6 percent.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Ed Davies)
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