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Remarks by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on May 25 suggesting that he might run for president have evoked the opposite reactions from South Korea‘s ruling and opposition parties. Ban said that he would be pondering what role he should play as a Korean citizen after his term as secretary-general is over.

The ruling Saenuri Party was delighted by the idea.

“This can be seen as a positive development for a party that does not have a clear presidential frontrunner. It could accelerate efforts to recruit Ban as a candidate,” said Na Kyung-won, a Saenuri Party lawmaker who attended the Jeju Forum with Ban.

When asked whether she intended to have a separate meeting with Ban in Jeju to recruit Ban for the party, Na declined to comment.

“I assumed that Ban would not make any political remarks during his visit to Korea. His suggestive remarks make it increasingly likely that he will run for president,” said Rep. Jung Woo-taek, a Saenuri Party lawmaker from Chungcheong Province who has himself hinted that he means to make a presidential run.

“Ban would help out with the Chungcheong region [his home area] and with stirring up interest in the party primaries,” Jung observed, while noting that Ban would probably be subjected to scrutiny by the opposition parties and the press earlier than expected.

“I don’t know Ban Ki-moon personally, but he has been active internationally, and he is highly regarded by the Korean public. For that reason, it‘s significant that he’s even being discussed as a presidential candidate for the Saenuri Party, which currently lacks any obvious choices,” said Rep. Lee Hak-jae, who belongs to the pro-Park Geun-hye faction of the Saenuri Party.

But Lee also thinks that relying solely on Ban could cause problems for the Saenuri Party. “It’s only by putting forward a lot of presidential candidates that the party can increase its competitiveness and also have a contingency plan if there is an unexpected drop in support,” Lee said.

In contrast, the political opposition was not pleased with Ban’s remarks.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for someone who ought to be concentrating on his duties as UN secretary-general to already be talking about running for president. Ban is acting like a student in literature class who has his math book open to cram for a test instead of studying literature like he ought to be,” said Rep. Lee Sang-min, a four-term Chungcheong lawmaker with the Minjoo Party of Korea and the chairman of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

When asked whether Chungcheong voters would endorse Ban, Lee said, “Ban is being mentioned as a leading contender because of the simple fact that he has risen to a position that Koreans think is enviable. If Ban receives a poor assessment from the international community for his time as UN secretary-general, Korean public opinion toward him will cool as well.”

“After Ban is remembered proudly as a UN secretary-general who carried out his duties faithfully, then he can make his next move. But I have my doubts whether he is viewed that way in the international community,” said Rep. Gi Dong-min, floor spokesperson for the Minjoo Party. “If Ban really intends to lead this country, he will need to clearly declare what his plans are. But the situation has been pretty much the same for more than two years now.”

“Ban Ki-moon apparently hinted that he would run for president. I suspect that the pro-Park faction of the Saenuri Party will spring into action. We’ll have to see what happens,” said People‘s Party floor leader Park Jie-won.

By Seong Yeon-cheol and Song Kyung-hwa, staff reporters

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