Beset by crisis, scandal and a sluggish economy in the first half of her single five-year term, South Korean President Park Geun-hye's approval rating soared in a poll released on Friday after a pact with North Korea brought back the rivals from the brink of conflict.
Park's rating in a Gallup poll climbed a remarkable 15 percentage points from a week earlier to 49 percent, the highest in nearly a year, after the accord early on Tuesday ended an armed standoff in one of the world's most dangerous flash points and cleared the ground for further engagement with Pyongyang.
She also scored points for talking tough in the midst of the negotiations, insisting that North Korea had to apologize for land-mine blasts along their border.