POLITICS

Ahn Cheol-soo could come up with Korea's largest political party

45% of Koreans say keep Roh-Kim
talks secret; 35% say bare them

On the disclosure of the secret conversation between the late former President Roh Moo-hyun and the late former Chairman Kim Jong-il of North Korea concerning the peaceful utilization of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) on the west coast, 45% of the people in the Republic of Korea (south) said it would be wrong to do so. Some 35% of the pollees said that disclosure was justified. This was reported by a leading Korean-language daily, Chosun Ilbo, on June 28, 2013 according to the result of a survey conducted by Korea Gallup on June 24-27, 2013 when it consulted a total of 1,218 persons above the age of 19.

The progressive-minded late former President Roh Moo-hyun of the Republic of Korea

When Roh and Kim had a summit meeting in Pyongyang on Oct. 4, 2007, they had a secret conversation concerning the joint development of the NLL and the west coast area for peaceful utilization of the area where the two sides shared the border line.

Asked if President Roh’s statement with Chairman Kim was understood to mean the ROK’s giveup of the NLL, 53%, or more than one half of the respondents, said they did not think so. Only 24% said Roh’s remarks were tantamount to the ROK’s abandonment of the NLL.

In the same survey, the pollees were asked of the approval rating of President Park Geun-hye, where some 54% said she was doing OK. This showed a decrease of 5% compared with an identical survey conducted on her one week earlier.

Gallup predicted that continued debate on the disclosure of the Roh-Kim secret talks would unfavorably affect the image of President Park in regard to her ability in the administration of state affairs.

Ahn could make Korea's

largest political party among 20s to 40s

When Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo forms a new party, it would get nearly three times as many supporters (25%) of the main opposition Democratic Party (9%) while the ruling Saenuri Party would win 30% which was slightly larger than the support rating of Ahn’s party. This survey result conducted by Korea Gallup was published by Korean-language Internet news, NEWSIS, on June 28, 2013.

National Assemblyman Ahn Cheol-soo who is more popular as a Presidential hopeful than as a lawmaker. Some say he will make Korea's largest political party.

The new poll results indicated the DP’s loss of 9% compared with 18% it had maintained without Ahn’s party and the ruling Saenuri Party’s loss of 7% from the previous rating without Ahn’s party.

Korea Gallup predicted that the support rating for Ahn’s party could substantially change depending on what kind of people Ahn would recruit for his party.

Gallup foresaw that Ahn’s party would win over a substantial number of supporters of the middle-of-the-roaders as well as of the Democratic Party and that the new party could become the largest political party in Korea among the people in the 20s to 40s.

However, a different survey on Ahn conducted by Real Meter on June 24-28, 2013 and published by Korean-language daily Hankook Ilbo on July 1, 2013 showed that DP got 25.3% in approval rating which was pretty close to the 27.3% won by Ahn’s party. k

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