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Ban Ki-moon

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is regarded as a contender for next year’s South Korean presidential election, said that he would have long conversations with his friends about what he can do for his country after returning home. The remarks are being interpreted as an indirect announcement of Ban’s plans to run for president.

“On a personal note, I‘ll be returning to South Korea next January. I want to talk with my friends and with leaders in South Korean society about what I can do, about what I should do, for my country,” the Japanese media quoted Ban as saying during a meeting with Japanese correspondents in New York on Nov. 28. At the end of December, Ban will end his ten-year term as UN Secretary-General.

Ban also discussed the ongoing scandal concerning Choi Sun-sil’s influence-peddling. “As a citizen of South Korea, I humbly acknowledge the great anger and dissatisfaction felt by the South Korean public. I am carefully following these events as a citizen of South Korea,” Ban was quoted as saying. These remarks are prompting political speculation about whether Ban will remain a likely presidential candidate for the ruling Saenuri Party or whether he will leave that party to stake out his own ground in the political center.

Ban said that the visit to North Korea he had long tried to organize to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue was “impractical” since his term is almost over. He also said he had shared with US president-elect Donald Trump his hopes that the next administration would strengthen cooperation with the UN.

Likely out of respect for the Japanese reporters for whom the press conference had been organized, Ban also expressed his “deep gratitude” to Japan for “attempting to make a greater contribution to the world.” Ban‘s remarks came in response to the Japanese government’s assignment of “rush and rescue” duties to a unit of Japanese troops recently deployed to South Sudan to participate in UN peacekeeping operations there. “Rush and rescue” duties mean that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces can use force to rescue civilians who are being attacked in their vicinity.

Japan is currently facing criticism for assigning these duties, which some regard as the final step toward Japan becoming a country that can wage war. “Rush and rescue” duties mean that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are now able to use force without being directly attacked for the first time since Japan surrendered to end World War II in 1945.

By Gil Yun-hyung, Tokyo correspondent

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