President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rose from a week earlier last week, a survey showed Monday, apparently on the back of his recent Asia trip that many believe helped enhance the country's relations with Southeast Asian countries.

In a survey conducted by Realmeter, the president's approval rating came to 71.6 percent, up 1.5 percentage points from a week earlier.

The reading marked a turnaround from a 0.2 percentage on-week dip posted in the previous week. The weekly survey was conducted Monday through Friday, involving 2,514 adults throughout the country.

The increase followed Moon's three-nation trip to Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines from Nov. 8-15. The trip to Indonesia marked Moon's first state visit to a foreign nation since taking office in May. The president took part in the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations forums in Vietnam and the Philippines.

However, Moon also unveiled his "New South Policy" that aims to greatly improve the country's economic and diplomatic ties with the 10 ASEAN countries during his trip.

ASEAN is already the world's second-largest destination of South Korean exports. South Korea's new international policy seeks to boost its trade with ASEAN countries to $200 billion a year by 2020.

During his tour, the president also held a bilateral summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in what was widely seen as a move to repair their countries' bilateral ties earlier estranged by the deployment of the THAAD US missile defense system in South Korea.

Moon's ruling Democratic Party enjoyed a sharp rise in its own approval rating, which gained 3.1 percentage points on-week to 51.3 percent.

The approval rating of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, on the other hand, slipped 0.3 percentage point to 18.3 percent, while that of the liberal opposition People's Party also dipped 0.4 percentage point to 4.9 percent.

The splinter conservative Bareun Party's rating gained 0.2 percentage point to 5.7 percent, while that of the progressive Justice Party dropped 0.8 percentage point to 5 percent, according to Realmeter.