Korean President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating fell for the second week in a row, a local pollster said Monday, apparently following the government’s rigid stance on a controversial song that has been a point of contention between liberals and conservatives for years.

According to a poll conducted by Realmeter on 2,531 South Koreans last week, 32.3 percent of the respondents approved of the Park administration, down 2.2 percentage points from a week earlier.

Those who disapproved of the chief executive’s job performance came to 62.9 percent, up 1.8 percentage points from a week before.

The tension between the presidential office and political parties escalated with the clash over the status of the song “March for the Beloved” at the annual ceremony to commemorate the May 18 democracy movement.

Liberals and the opposition have favored making the song an official part of the event, but conservatives, including the presidential office, remained reluctant to make the change.

The government’s stance for the past several years has been to allow people attending the annual memorial service in Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul, the freedom of choice to sing the song if they choose to do so, but not to compel them.

The song is viewed by conservatives with suspicions because it is used by labor unions and in most antigovernment protests, with many right wing groups stringently opposed to giving the song any formal status.

The approval rating of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea reached 29.5 percent, marking the first time in four weeks that it surpassed the ruling Saenuri Party’s 28.4 percent. The minor opposition People’s Party posted an approval rating of 19.8 percent. (Yonhap)