President Moon Jae-in's approval rating continued to remain high at over 70 percent with a majority of people here also endorsing the president's move to deploy a U.S. missile shield as soon as possible despite his earlier objections, a survey showed Friday.
In a survey conducted by Gallup Korea, 77 percent of 1,004 respondents said they approved of the president's management of state affairs. The rating remained unchanged from a week earlier.
The latest poll was conducted on Tuesday through Thursday. It had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.
The number of people who disapproved of Moon's state management slightly increased, accounting for 15 percent of all respondents, up 2 percentage points from a week earlier, according to the local pollsters.
Moon is currently on a five-day leave that began Monday.
The weekly survey followed the North's latest missile provocation late last week that has led to renewed concerns over a possible armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
Top U.S. officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, reiterated that "all options" were on the table after the communist state launched what it claims to have been an intercontinental ballistic missile.
As a clear warning, the South Korean president, too, has ordered his military officials to consider deploying four additional THAAD rocket launchers that his own administration had previously put on hold for an environmental impact assessment.
An overwhelming 72 percent of those surveyed said they agreed with the decision, while 14 percent answered it may have been ill-advised.
Also, 57 percent of all respondents said the country must suspend all its support and aid for the impoverished North should Pyongyang refuse to give up its nuclear ambition. Thirty-nine percent said Seoul should still continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the communist state.
The approval rating of the ruling Democratic Party slipped 4 percentage points on-week to 46 percent while that of the main opposition party came to 11 percent, up 1 percentage point.
The splinter conservative Bareun Party registered a 10 percent approval rating, with the minor opposition Justice Party and the People's Party scoring 6 percent and 5 percent, respectively. (Yonhap)