Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has risen above the 60 percent mark for the first time in three weeks, largely due to favorable public opinion on his policies aimed at improving livelihoods and a robust stock market rally, a recent poll revealed Monday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the survey was commissioned by EKN newspaper and conducted by Realmeter, involving 2,506 respondents aged 18 and older from Monday through Friday. The findings indicate that positive assessments of Lee's job performance increased by 0.8 percentage points from the previous week, reaching 60.5 percent. During the same period, negative assessments decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 35.1 percent, while 4.4 percent of respondents were unsure.

Realmeter attributed the rise in approval to President Lee's focus on issues impacting daily life, such as the Korea Composite Stock Price Index surpassing the 8,000 mark. Furthermore, his recent visit to Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province to inspect the site for a proposed civilian-military airport also contributed to the improved ratings.

However, the pollster noted that certain negative factors partially countered the positive sentiment. These included controversy surrounding remarks by presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom on profit sharing of tech companies and concerns over a potential strike at Samsung Electronics due to stalled wage negotiations. On Tuesday, Kim suggested the introduction of "public dividends" funded by excess tax revenues from the AI-driven semiconductor boom, sparking backlash from the opposition and reportedly causing the stock index to drop.

The survey's margin of error is plus or minus 2 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. Additionally, a separate survey by the same pollster showed that support for the ruling Democratic Party decreased by 2.9 percentage points to 45.8 percent, while the main opposition People Power Party saw an increase of 2.6 percentage points, reaching 33.5 percent. This poll, conducted on 1,003 individuals aged 18 and over on Thursday and Friday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.