Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has held steady at 53.1 percent, according to a recent poll, despite ongoing political controversies surrounding his administration. These controversies include his nomination of a budget minister and the ruling party's proposed merger with a minor party.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the survey conducted by Realmeter reveals that while Lee's approval rating remains unchanged, the negative evaluation has slightly decreased by 0.1 percentage point, now standing at 42.1 percent. The pollster noted that the positive momentum seen earlier in the week, fueled by the KOSPI index surpassing the 5,000-point mark and a New Year press conference held by Lee, was counteracted by later controversies. These include the withdrawal of Lee's nomination for Lee Hye-hoon as the head of the new Ministry of Planning and Budget due to allegations of improper real estate dealings and mistreatment of subordinates.

The ruling Democratic Party's proposal to merge with the minor liberal Rebuilding Korea Party has also ignited debate within the party, coming just four months ahead of local elections. The survey, which involved 2,509 adults and was conducted from Monday to Friday last week, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent.

In a separate survey by the same pollster conducted on Thursday and Friday with 1,000 individuals aged 18 and over, the approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party experienced a slight increase of 0.2 percentage point, reaching 42.7 percent. Meanwhile, support for the main opposition People Power Party rose by 2.5 percentage points, now standing at 39.5 percent. This poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.