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President Yoon Suk-yeol greets supporters after arriving at his official residence after being released from detention on March 8, 2025. (Yonhap)

Amid the prolonged wait for the verdict in the impeachment trial for South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, a survey found that 6 out of 10 South Koreans think Yoon should be removed from office. A similar proportion of respondents said that the Constitutional Court is trustworthy and will approve the impeachment. 

Results for a regular national barometer survey conducted by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korean Research International and Hankook Research were announced on Thursday. The polling agencies surveyed 1,003 voters from across the country from Monday through Wednesday. The poll had a confidence level of 95% with a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and a response rate of 21.1%. The survey was conducted using virtual phone numbers. 

Regarding whether Yoon should be removed from office, 60% of respondents said that the president should be removed from office, while 35% said the impeachment should be dismissed and Yoon reinstated. Compared to results from the previous week, that made for a 5-point increase in support for Yoon’s ouster (55%→60%), and a 4-point drop in opposition to Yoon’s removal from office (39%→35%). 

The disparity between support and opposition for an ouster grew from 16 percentage points to 25 percentage points, the largest disparity since the survey conducted from Jan. 6 to 8, which resulted in 62% supporting impeachment and 33% in opposition. 

There are various interpretations regarding the delay in the court’s verdict. Survey respondents were asked about their expectations for the verdict, irrespective of their personal opinions on impeachment. 57% said they expected Yoon to be removed from office (up from 53% last week), compared to 34% who expected the impeachment motion’s dismissal (down from 38% last week). 

Supporters of the People Power Party (PPP) and Yoon are launching ideological attacks on Constitutional Court justices. Yet a whopping 60% of respondents said they trust the court’s impeachment procedures. This was an increase of 9 points compared to the previous week (51%). Conversely, 36% of respondents said they do not trust the court, a decrease of 9 points compared to the previous week. 

While there was an increase in the number of people who said they trust the Constitutional Court, there was no major change in people’s willingness to accept the court’s decision. Among respondents, 55% said that they will accept the court’s verdict even if they disagree with it (54% last week), while 42% said they will not accept a verdict they disagree with (same as last week). 

Regarding a possible presidential election, 51% of respondents said they wanted a candidate from the opposition to win the election, up 4 points. Only 36% of respondents wanted the current ruling party to stay in power, down 6 points.

As for who they thought was the best fit to be Korea’s next president, 33% of respondents chose Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung while 10% chose Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo each received 5%, while 4% of respondents chose former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon. 

When asked who they would support in a presidential election based on party affiliation and not individual candidates, 40% of respondents said they would choose the Democratic Party candidate, 30% chose the PPP, and 2% chose the Rebuilding Korea Party. The Reform Party and the Progressive Party each received 1%. Support for a Democratic Party candidate went up 4 points while support for the PPP went down 5 percentage points. 

Approval ratings for political parties demonstrated similar shifts. Of those surveyed, 38% supported the Democratic Party, while 32% voiced support for the PPP, and the Rebuilding Korea Party got 7%. The Reform Party and the Progressive Party each polled at 1%. Support for the Democratic Party was up 2 points compared to the previous week while support for the PPP was down 6 points. 

Details about the survey are available online on the websites for the National Barometer Survey and the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission (in Korean).

By Kim Nam-il, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]