Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating fell to 58 percent this week as the economy remains stagnant, a poll showed Friday. The survey by Gallup Korea, conducted Tuesday through Thursday on 1,000 respondents aged 18 and over, revealed that the positive assessment of Lee's overall performance dropped 2 percentage points from the previous week.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the negative assessment rose by 1 percentage point to 32 percent, while 10 percent of respondents said they were undecided. Diplomacy was the most frequently cited reason for positive evaluation, at 36 percent, followed by his policies on the economy and livelihood issues at 12 percent. The pollster noted that diplomacy, highlighted by Lee's visits to China and Japan, was the top reason for positive evaluations but failed to lift his overall approval rating.

Among those with negative assessments, 26 percent expressed concerns over the economy, while 9 percent criticized his overall performance and 8 percent pointed to his "pro-China" policies. Earlier this month, President Lee made separate trips to China and Japan, holding summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

The approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party also saw a decline, coming in at 41 percent, down 4 percentage points. Meanwhile, the main opposition People Power Party's approval rating stood at 24 percent. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.