Moon at all-time high after polls bring boost

Voters in the Republic of Korea have more faith in President Moon Jae-in and the complete denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, after the historic summit between Moon and top Democratic People's Republic of Korea leader Kim Jong-un on April 27, according to latest statistics.

Realmeter, a pollster based in Seoul, said seven out of 10 people from the ROK believe that complete denuclearization on the peninsula will be possible.

The result was based on a survey of 501 voters conducted on Wednesday, and the data released on Thursday said that a total of 71.4 percent of respondents said a complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization is possible to achieve.

The survey also found that over 90 percent of supporters for the ruling Democratic Party said the complete denuclearization was possible, while more than half of supporters for the main opposition Liberty Korea Party believed it would not happen.

Moon's approval rating also surged following last week's summit. More than three in four voters approved of Moon, according to Realmeter's another survey - an all-time high for any ROK president at the end of their first year in office.

The president's support rose more than 8 points to 78.3 percent, with the agency saying the result reflected "mounting public expectations for Pyongyang's denuclearization and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula".

"Moon's approval ratings, which were relatively low around the end of last year, surged back up following the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics," said Jeong Han-wool, a researcher from a public opinion firm Hankook Research.

Moon and Kim met on the ROK side of the border village of Panmunjom last Friday, signing and announcing the Panmunjom Declaration in which the two leaders agreed to complete denuclearization of the peninsula and the change of the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty by the end of this year, which has been seen as a historic event after decades of hostility between the countries.

The Blue House presidential press secretary Yoon Youngchan, told a briefing on Thursday that May 10 will mark Moon's first anniversary of his inauguration, and the president will wrestle with a mountain of documents on the enforcement of the Panmunjom Declaration without any special press conference.

Rapid pace

Yoon said the Blue House was simply and clearly preparing for the anniversary as the situations on the Korean Peninsula are changing at a rapid pace ahead of the summit between the DPRK and the United States.

The pollster said the Panmunjom Declaration raised expectations for the denuclearization and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula, and the upcoming summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump will be another highlight, which may led to a fast rise in Moon's support scores.

Jeong also said that Moon's popularity was likely to continue through next month's local elections, which Moon's ruling Democratic Party is widely tipped to dominate.

Xinhua and AFP contributed to this story.

(China Daily 05/04/2018 page11)