Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating experienced a slight decline last week, marking the first drop in six weeks, as revealed by a survey on Monday. Lee's approval rating stood at 57.1 percent, which represents a 1.1 percentage point decrease from the previous week.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the survey was conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by a local business news outlet. It noted that 38.2 percent of those surveyed expressed disapproval of Lee, reflecting a 1 percentage point increase over the same period. The decline in approval rating occurred despite positive financial and economic indicators. Realmeter suggested that recent social debates regarding the fairness of the government's initiatives, such as merging major cities and provinces and lowering the age for criminal punishment, might have contributed to the decline.

President Lee has put forward a proposal to merge the central city of Daejeon with the surrounding province of South Chungcheong. This proposal is part of a broader strategy to promote balanced regional development beyond the Seoul metropolitan area.

The latest survey gathered responses from 2,507 adults between Monday and Friday, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent. Additionally, a separate survey by the same pollster focused on 1,002 individuals aged 18 and over on Thursday and Friday. It revealed a 1.5 percentage point drop in approval for the ruling Democratic Party, bringing it to 47.1 percent, while the main opposition People Power Party saw an increase of 1.2 percentage points, reaching 33.8 percent. This poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent.