President Lee Jae Myung is increasingly turning to social media to reach out directly to the public in face of mounting political headwinds, but with little immediate impact on his approval rating.
A Realmeter poll released Monday showed Lee's approval falling for a second consecutive week, with support weakening among both liberal and moderate voters.
His ruling Democratic Party of Korea suffered an even sharper setback, losing seven percentage points amid disputes over prosecution reform and judicial independence.
Lee's approval rating fell 2.2 percentage points from the previous week to 35.2 percent, while disapproval rose 1.6 points to 61.4 percent. Another 3.4 percent of respondents were undecided.
The survey of 1,504 adults nationwide was conducted from Oct. 6 to 8.
The decline was particularly pronounced among centrist voters, whose approval of Lee fell 3.5 percentage points to 39.2 percent. Support also slipped 3.9 points among conservatives to 10.2 percent and 1.4 points among progressives to 53 percent.
Realmeter attributed the decline to controversies over personnel appointments, national security and housing that have dominated National Assembly audits since they began on Oct. 6.
These included a dispute over judicial independence involving Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, partisan clashes over North Korean land mine explosions in the Demilitarized Zone that injured three South Korean soldiers and rising housing and rental prices in the Seoul metropolitan area.
The political difficulties were even more pronounced in the ruling party's numbers.
In a separate Realmeter survey conducted Wednesday and Thursday, support for the Democratic Party dropped seven percentage points to 35.5 percent, while the main opposition People Power Party gained 2.9 points to 41.3 percent, reversing their positions from the previous week.
The 5.8-point gap remained within the survey's margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Realmeter attributed the Democratic Party's sharp decline to confrontations with Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo during the National Assembly audit and the party's calls for his impeachment. The pollster also cited disputes with the minor progressive Rebuilding Korea Party over prosecution reform and growing anxiety over the housing market.
The Democratic Party suffered particularly steep losses among progressive voters and those in their 40s.
Democratic Party spokesperson Rep. Cho Gye-won also acknowledged Sunday that internal conflicts could be hurting the party's standing.
"Internal party conflicts are inevitably linked to stagnant approval ratings," Cho told reporters. "Doesn't the public still see the Democratic Party as divided over prosecution reform?"
The People Power Party, meanwhile, appeared to benefit from mounting criticism of the Lee administration over security, judicial independence and economic policies, according to the pollster on Monday.
Lee has sharply increased his activity on X as his approval rating has hovered in the 30 percent range since the June 3 local elections, using the platform to address political disputes, foreign policy and national security issues, as well as to tout his administration's achievements.
His posts surged from 37 in August to 116 in September, with another 65 published in October as of Monday morning.
The increasingly active online presence comes amid deepening divisions within the liberal camp, suggesting an effort to counter criticism, defend government policies and rally supporters as Lee seeks to regain political momentum.
On Sept. 30, Lee pledged to expand direct engagement through news conferences, public debates, field visits and YouTube livestreams. "Politics, after all, belongs to the people," he wrote.
But his use of X has increasingly drawn him into disputes with political allies, particularly over his nomination of Kim Ji-yong, a career prosecutor, to lead the newly established Serious Crimes Investigation Agency.
On Oct. 5, Lee wrote that "prosecution reform is for the people, not to create a political legacy for particular individuals," in remarks widely seen as directed at reform hard-liners critical of his personnel decisions. Four days later, he criticized those who "use radical reform as a pretext to attack their own side" after failing to secure influential positions.
His online activity has also sparked controversy beyond policy disputes.
Over the weekend, Lee invoked former President Roh Moo-hyun and former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon while defending his approach to public communication, drawing criticism over his reference to Park, who was accused of sexual harassment prior to taking his life while in office in 2020.
Lee's use of "jwa-ahada," a playful variation of the Korean word "u-ahada," meaning "elegant," has also stirred controversy. The expression replaces "u," alluding to the Korean word for the political right, with "jwa," meaning "left."
His decision to block abusive accounts on X has raised further questions about whether Lee's direct outreach can broaden his appeal beyond his supporters or risks deepening divisions within the liberal camp.
The opposition has also stepped up its criticism of Lee's direct communication efforts on X. People Power Party leader Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok on Monday accused Lee of focusing on political allies rather than public concerns.
"President Lee calls it 'communication,' but no one in the public sees it that way," Jang said. "I hope he will communicate with people willing to tell him uncomfortable truths."
dagyumji@heraldcorp.com