Lee's Approval Hits 60% on Diplomacy Push, Plans Japan Summit

The survey by Gallup Korea, conducted Tuesday through Thursday on 1,000 respondents aged 18 and over, showed that the positive assessment of Lee's overall performance climbed 5 percentage points from the previous poll in mid-December.

Thirty-three per cent gave a negative view, down from the previous survey's 36 per cent, while 7 per cent withheld their evaluation, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Diplomacy topped all other areas of state affairs among the reasons cited for positive assessments, accounting for 30 per cent, followed by 14 per cent who pointed to his leadership in managing the economy and livelihood issues.

Negative assessments were mostly driven by views critical of his performance on the economy and livelihood matters.

The pollster assessed that Lee's recent state visit to China appears to have brought his diplomacy back to the center of attention, which drove positive assessments.

Lee recently came back from a four-day state visit to China, where he held summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping to enhance economic ties and coordination on peace efforts regarding North Korea.

The two sides also addressed sensitive issues, including China's steel structures in overlapping waters of the Yellow Sea, which Seoul views as potential groundwork for territorial claims.

The approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party came to 45 per cent, while that of the main opposition People Power Party stood at 26 per cent.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 per cent confidence level.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will make a two-day visit to Japan's Nara prefecture early next week for summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral ties, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.

Lee is scheduled to depart for Japan next Tuesday for the summit talks, which will be held in the Japanese prefecture of Nara, Takaichi's hometown, Cheong Wa Dae said.

The two leaders are expected to discuss a wide range of regional and global issues, as well as the economy, society and culture, Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement.

Lee and Takaichi last held summit talks on October 30 on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Gyeongju and briefly met on the margins of the Group of 20 leaders' gathering in South Africa in November.

Lee will attend a friendship event with Takaichi next Wednesday and meet with ethnic Koreans in Japan before returning home that day.

The trip will mark Lee's second visit to the neighboring country after he visited Tokyo in August and held summit talks with Takaichi's predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba.

The upcoming visit is expected to help strengthen the future-oriented momentum of bilateral ties through "shuttle diplomacy," or reciprocal visits, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

- IANS