South Korean President Park Geun-hye's approval rating falls to 4%

South Korean President Park Geun-hye's approval rating fell to 4% according to a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday (25 November). It is the lowest for any sitting president in South Korea.

The president's rating remained at 5% for the last three weeks and started to fall as new accusations against her emerged and opposition parties set plans to move an impeachment motion against her. Her approval rating fell by 1 percentage point from last week while the disapproval rating rose to 93%, which is an increase of 3 points.

The new poll was conducted from Tuesday to Thursday and 1,004 South Koreans participated in it with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, Yonhap news agency reported.

Seoul-based Gallup Korea is not affiliated to the US-based Gallup.

The deepening political crisis in the country dealt a blow to consumer confidence as well, which fell to its lowest in more than seven years, South Korea's central bank was quoted by Reuters as saying.

At the centre of the crisis is a long-time friend of Park, Choi Soon-sil, who is believed to have influenced decision making at the very top. Prosecutors indicted Choi and a former presidential aide on 20 November on charges of colluding with Park to force big corporations to donate money to two foundations linked to Choi.

Prosecutors previously said they could not charge Park in an official capacity for now but they vowed to continue to investigate her. Investigators have widened their probe to the president's aides and businesses this week and raided Samsung group offices and Lotte Group.

On 19 November, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in protest in Seoul, in what is said to be one of the biggest demonstrations in South Korea since the 1980s. At least a million people are expected to attend more protests on 26 November.