Roh, OOP still in the basement

There are times when I wish I wasn't such an ignorant non Korean-speaking fool.  It cuts me off from a lot of good research material.

Luckily, we have guys like the blogger formerly known as the Marmot around to translate some juicy bits.  I don't know if there is anyone who reads this blog but not From the Nakdong to the Yalu, but be sure to check this out (it gets the Yangban bold red-letter all caps MUST READ seal of approval):

You know, as a Republican, I’m sometimes distressed by President Bush’s approval ratings. But then I think to myself, gee, there are people who have it much worse. Like President Roh Moo-hyun. The Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) announced today that the POTROK’s approval ratings had hit 22.9 percent, one of lowest they’ve been since he took office nearly three years ago (reported in Pressian). Since hitting a lofty 37.0 percent on the second anniversary of his inauguration, Roh’s approval ratings have nosedived, briefly threatening to cross the Mendoza Line in late September (20.4 percent) 2005 before rebounding to a Dick Cheney-like 28.8 percent in late January of this year.

Those numbers are low even by Korean standards (Koreans almost always hate their leaders).

The Marmot also reports that Roh's party is not doing much better:

Cheong Wa Dae isn’t the only one hurtin’ in the polls. The Uri Party is also suffering from falling support, even after its recent national convention. Over the last two weeks, the party’s support has fallen nearly 2 percentage points, going from 20.3 percent to 18.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the Grand National Party continues to enjoy increasing support. Over the last two weeks, support for the GNP has increased 2.7 percentage points to 37.4 percent, mostly as a result of increasing support in the Chungcheong and Incheon-Gyeonggi regions. The KSOI said this boost in support was due to the party’s absorption of the Liberal Democrats.
Support for the Millennium Democratic Party stood at 4.1 percent, while that for the Democratic Labor Party was 8.9 percent.

If it is any consolation to the left, the total support for 'progressive' parties stands at a more competitive 30.4 percent.  But I guess that will be of little comfort since the Democrats and the DLP both hate the OOP (Uri) as much as they hate the GNP.

The Marmot also links to an article in the Joongang reporting that the last remnants of the United Liberal Democrats have joined the GNP.

The May elections should be mighty interesting.