Yeo, Seoul Approval Rating Traded for Administrative Capital Relocation

Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 31st and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The Democratic Party of Korea is struggling to maintain its approval ratings in the Seoul area. After trailing the United Future Party for about nine months, it has even lost the leading position, damaging its pride. Despite introducing various real estate measures such as the 'administrative capital relocation' and the three lease laws to curb soaring real estate prices, it appears that the party failed to gain support from Seoul-area voters.

According to a party approval rating survey conducted by Realmeter on behalf of tbs from the 27th to the 29th (1,511 respondents, 4.6% response rate, ±2.5 percentage points margin of error at 95% confidence level, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website), the United Future Party's approval rating in Seoul was 40.8%, which is 9.4 percentage points higher than the Democratic Party's 31.4%.

The reversal of approval ratings in Seoul is mainly attributed to the Democratic Party's proposal of 'administrative capital relocation' as part of its efforts to control real estate prices. In political circles, relocating the administrative capital as a real estate solution is seen as a shift in the issue's importance and could be misinterpreted as an attempt to evade responsibility for the real estate problem.

The Democratic Party also failed to significantly change public opinion on the administrative capital relocation. According to a survey on the administrative capital relocation plan released by Gallup Korea on the same day (1,001 respondents, 13% response rate, ±4.4 percentage points margin of error at 95% confidence level), 49% of respondents said it would be better to maintain the capital in Seoul. Meanwhile, 42% favored relocating it to Sejong City, and 9% were undecided. Notably, the 'maintain Seoul' response was higher in Seoul (61%), while 'relocate to Sejong' was more popular in Gwangju/Jeolla (67%) and Daejeon/Sejong/Chungcheong (57%) regions. Considering that in a December 2003 survey, support and opposition for relocating the administrative capital to the Chungcheong area were 44% and 43% respectively, the overall approval ratio has not changed significantly compared to the past.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.