Yoon's approval rating falls after hot mic incident: Realmeter

SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk-yeol saw his approval rating dip slightly at the end of last week, a survey showed Monday, after he was caught on video using foul language during a visit to New York.

In the poll of 2,533 voters conducted by Realmeter from Monday to Friday last week, 34.6 percent positively assessed Yoon's job performance, up 0.2 percentage point from the previous week.

Yoon's disapproval rating was 62.2 percent, down 1 percentage point.

Yoon's approval rating, however, showed a downward trend from 36.4 percent on Tuesday to 32.8 percent on Friday.

The fall could be attributable to criticism that Yoon came under for using vulgar words in private remarks to aides caught on a hot mic during a trip to New York on Wednesday, according to Bae Cheol-ho, a senior analyst at Realmeter.

Though the recording of Yoon's remarks was not clear due to noise, many thought that he used foul language while talking about U.S. Congress and U.S. President Joe Biden.

But Yoon's office rejected the claim, saying he was referring to South Korea's opposition-controlled National Assembly without mentioning U.S. Congress or Biden. Yoon's ruling People Power Party also claimed people misheard Yoon's remarks because the video had a subtitle misrepresenting them.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

nyway@yna.co.kr
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