A recent poll released Thursday showed that 39 percent of the South Korean public supports the ruling People Power Party and 37 percent supports the main opposition Democratic Party.

According to the National Barometer Survey, conducted by Embrain Public, KStat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research, the approval ratings for the ruling and main opposition parties each rose one percentage point from a week earlier.

Regarding the next presidential candidate, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung received the highest approval rating, 32 percent, followed by labor minister Kim Moon-soo with 12 percent.

In the same survey, 37 percent of respondents said they will vote for the Democratic Party candidate if there is a presidential election this year, while 36 percent said they will choose the People Power Party candidate.

The survey of one-thousand-five people aged 18 and older, conducted through telephone interviews from February 3 to 5, had a response rate of 20 percent with a margin of error of plus or minus three-point-one percentage points and a 95 percent confidence level.