Seoul, Jul 10 (IANS): The approval rating of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol fell slightly to 39.1 per cent, ending its three-week upward trend, a new poll revealed on Monday.
In the poll of 2,590 eligible voters conducted by Realmeter from July 3-7, positive assessment of Yoon's performance went down 2.9 percentage points from the previous week, while disapproval of Yoon's performance went up 2.9 percentage points to 58 per cent, reports Yonhap News Agency.
The approval rating had been on the rise for three consecutive weeks to reach 42 per cent in the last week of June.
Bae Cheol-ho, a senior analyst at Realmeter, said last week's decline in approval rating can be attributed to controversies surrounding an expressway construction project that was scrapped over opposition allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee's family.
The main opposition Democratic Party has raised allegations that the route of the envisioned expressway connecting Seoul and Yangpyeong, 52 km east of Seoul, has been changed to eventually increase the prices of land owned by Kim's family.
Land Minister Won Hee-ryong flatly rejected the allegations and scrapped the project altogether.