S. Korean president's approval rating falls to 72.5 pct: poll

SEOUL, May 18 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating fell 1.1 percentage points from a week earlier to 72.5 percent last week, a weekly poll showed Monday.

The negative assessment on Lee's conduct of state affairs increased 1.4 percentage points to 26.5 percent, according to computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) by local pollster Flower Research.

The ruling liberal Democratic Party's support decreased 3.0 percentage points to 52.9 percent, while the conservative opposition People Power Party's approval score gained 3.4 percentage points to 27.9 percent.

Support rate for the minor left-leaning Rebuilding Korea Party and the minor rightist New Reform Party logged 2.0 percent and 2.6 percent each last week.

The pollster's separate survey of the automated response system (ARS) showed that Lee's approval rating stood at 66.3 percent last week, while the negative assessment reached 31.3 percent.

The CATI and the ARS surveyed 1,001 and 1,002 voters each from Friday to Saturday. The polls had plus and minus 3.1 percentage points in margin of error with a confidence level of 95 percent. Enditem