[Aju News DB]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should be happy with the spontaneous creation Wednesday of a fan club supporting his candidacy in South Korea's presidential election next year.
The fan club was formed at a meeting of 330 promoters in Seoul who vowed to launch an active nationwide campaign aimed at recruiting supporters. Local chapters would be set up in 252 places nationwide.
"We want Ban to run in the (presidential) election at his homeland after completing his term as UN secretary general," they said in a statement.
The move came as President Park Geun-hye and her conservative Saenuri Party suffered a crippling blow from a corruption scandal involving the president's longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, accused of meddling in state affairs.
Saenuri has already suggested that it would welcome Ban as its candidate to run for the election in December next year.
Ban, whose second five-year term as UN chief ends late this year, has long been cited as a potential presidential candidate despite efforts to distance himself from being involved in political affairs in South Korea.
Ban, 71, said during his trip to the southern island of Jeju in May that South Korea needs a leader who is ready to abandon "everything for national unity".
About his possible presidential bid, the UN chief said vaguely that his family was split. "There are different views among my family members," he said, adding he would contemplate what he should do only after he returned home in January next year.
His remarks were interpreted by South Korean political parties as a vague expression of his political ambitions, though Ban cautioned that he had never thought about joining a presidential race. An earlier survey showed that 38 percent of 1,052 voters were in favor of Ban's candidacy.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
