Nearly 70 percent of respondents to a latest Kyodo News poll gave a positive assessment of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's one-day visit to North Korea on Saturday, but as many as 83.9 percent said they think the abduction issue remains unresolved.
The support rate for his Cabinet was 54.9 percent, virtually unchanged from 53.8 percent in the previous survey, which was conducted May 15 and May 16 after the visit was announced and Koizumi's nonparticipation in the National Pension System was revealed. The latest telephone poll was conducted Sunday and Monday.
The Cabinet support rate rose 12.7 percentage points in a poll immediately after Koizumi's first visit to North Korea in September 2002, when 86.2 percent of respondents saw the trip in a positive light. But the number fell 17.8 points in the latest poll.