S. Korea's ex-Democratic Party chief leads poll for presidential election

SEOUL, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Lee Jae-myung, former chief of South Korea's liberal Democratic Party, led a poll for the upcoming presidential election on June 3, Gallup Korea survey showed Friday.

Lee came out on top with a support rate of 38 percent, taking a big lead over conservative presidential hopefuls.

The rest contestants, namely former Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo and former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo of the conservative People Power Party, as well as Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who is serving as an acting president, trailed far behind with an approval rating of 7 percent.

Support for former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon stood at 6 percent.

Lee's support rate has stayed above 30 percent since December last year, when former President Yoon Suk-yeol declared an emergency martial law on the night of Dec. 3.

The opposition-led National Assembly revoked it hours later and passed a motion to impeach Yoon on Dec. 14 last year.

The constitutional court upheld the impeachment motion on April 4, causing the snap presidential election on June 3.

The poll showed that 45 percent will vote for a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, while 32 percent will give their vote for a People Power Party candidate.

The result was based on a survey of 1,000 voters conducted from Tuesday to Thursday. It had plus and minus 3.1 percentage points in margin of error with a 95-percent confidence level. ■