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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon responds to a question during a press conference with South Korean correspondents at UN headquarters in New York

Ban Ki-moon is underscoring his commitment to running for the presidency as he approaches the end of his ten-year term as UN Secretary-General on Dec. 31.

Ban is throwing his hat in the ring at a moment when fracturing in the ruling Saenuri Party has sent his stock in the so-called “intermediate zone” soaring to new heights. Politicians and others are predicting Ban may run as a candidate not for the Saenuri Party, which is controlled by its pro-Park Geun-hye wing, but for a united intermediate zone with non-Park figures from the Saenuri Party and non-Moon Jae-in figures from the opposition Minjoo Party.

“I will say that if what I have learned and seen and experienced in serving as UN Secretary-General can help in the development of the Republic of Korea, I am prepared to surrender my body to those flames,” Ban said in a Dec. 20 talk with South Korean correspondents at the UN headquarters in New York.

The use of such direct language is uncharacteristic of Ban, who has earned the nickname “the slippery eel” from some for his guarded statements. Ban reaffirmed his commitment to running in remarks to Korean-Americans at the South Korean general consulate in New York that afternoon.

“I said at the press conference earlier that I would submit myself to the flames and do whatever it takes if there is a role for me as a citizen of South Korea,” he said.

Ban has already shown his ambitions numerous times, saying he was “prepared to [commit myself] fully.”

“I’ll be 73 next year, but as long as my health holds up I am prepared to work for the country,” he said at one point.

Ban also affirmed his commitment to running for the presidency in the face of arguments that it would be better for him to work as a global diplomatic leader after finishing his term.

“At the current stage, I think it’s more urgent to serve the national development of the country that bore and raised me,” he responded.

Ban has also reacted sensitively to being presented recently as a symbol of betrayal. In an apparent nod to recent charges that his criticisms of Park - claiming the “public‘s trust was betrayed” with the recent Choi Sun-sil scandal - were a betrayal of the support for his nomination shown by the pro-Park wing, Ban replied that he “was not speaking of any specific political leader, including President Park Geun-hye.” He also fired back at pro-Roh Moo-hyun figures who charged him with betrayal for being two years late in visiting Roh’s grave and for not having any interactions with figures in their camp.

“That can’t be seen as anything but a political attack. It’s character assassination, and it’s absolutely unacceptable,” he replied.

“It’s not really reported on, but when I go to Seoul and early every year I have telephoned [Roh’s widow] Kwon Yang-sook,” he said at one point. When accused of betrayal, Ban has sometimes become uncharacteristically agitated and red in the face.

Ban also delivered a pat response regarding statements he made at a Sep. 2015 UN meeting with Park in attendance, where he said Saemaul (new village) movements were “spreading like wildfire in Asia and Africa” and “taking place in the heart of Manhattan.”

“That wasn’t about praising a particular leader; I was reporting frankly on what I had experienced, seen, and heard,” he explained.

Ban has also worked to play up his own “freshness” and moderate leanings with sweeping criticisms of the political climate when asked why he thought South Korea’s leadership had failed.

“Politicians are now abandoning themselves. What good are parties and factions when there’s no state?” he replied. “No-ron and So-ron [Joseon-era political factions], Donggyo and Sangdo [named after two neighborhoods in Seoul lived in by former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam, respectively. The names are now used as shorthand to refer to those presidents‘ supporters], pro-Park and non-Park - I don’t see why any of it matters.”

In view of current upheavals in the South Korean political climate, his remarks appeared aimed at a potential intermediate zone candidacy amid a process of political reorganization rather than running for an establishment party.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent in New York

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