President Park’s approval rating dips to 56.5%

President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating dipped below 60 percent on April 23, a week after the ferry Sewol with 476 passengers and crew on board sank in waters off the southwestern island of Jindo, a survey showed Friday.

Park’s rating soared to 71 percent on April 18, a day after her visit on April 17 to Jindo to console the victims’ families, but it dropped to 67 percent on April 21, 61.1 percent on April 22 and 56.5 percent on April 23, said the survey of 2,500 adults across the country, which was conducted by RealMeter, a pollster in Seoul.

Lee Taek-soo, chief of RealMeter, said the drop has resulted from a growing public distrust of the ability of the government to handle such a tragic accident.

As of early Thursday morning, the death toll rose to 159, with 143 others still missing. Only 174 survived the sinking of the ferry.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, according to the pollster.

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com