[Courtesy of Blue House]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, seen as a potential presidential candidate, saw his popularity waning at home this month, affected by a massive political scandal involving a longtime friend of President Park Geun-hye, a poll showed Friday.
According to a survey of 1,003 voters, conducted by pollster Gallup Korea, Ban's public approval rating slid to 21 percent from 27 percent a month ago, maintaining a slight lead over Moon Jae-in, a potential opposition candidate who took 19 percent.
Gallup attributed Ban's fall to the political scandal involving Park's friend, Choi Soon-sil, accused of meddling in state affairs, saying the UN chief was regarded as a ruling party candidate. There was no commitment from Ban, but Park's conservative Saenuri Party has suggested that it would welcome Ban as its candidate.
In another survey published by Realmeter on Thursday, Moon stood first with 20.8 percent, followed by Ban with 17.7 percent.
In Gallup's survey, Moon's approval rating was just up one percentage point from a month ago, while the popularity of his Democratic Party rose to 31 percent from 26 percent a month earlier.
A fan club supporting Ban's candidacy in next year's election in December was formed in Seoul on November 2 to recruit supporters. But a pro-Ban group called "Firefly" failed to gain enough support at its inaugural gathering Thursday.
Ban, whose second five-year term as UN chief ends late this year, has distanced himself from being involved in political affairs in South Korea. The 71-year-old 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".
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
