SEOUL: Former U. N. chief Ban Ki-moon arrived home in South Korea on Thursday and said he will make a decision soon on his political career, amid expectations he will run in an election that may come early if President Park Geun-hye is forced from office.
Ban, 72 is among front-runners in polls to succeed Park, whose fate will be decided when the Constitutional Court decides whether or not to uphold parliament’s December impeachment of her over an influence-peddling scandal.
Ban, a former foreign minister whose 10 years as U. N. secretary-general ended in December, has not said whether he will run for president, nor has he affiliated himself with any party.
“I’ve been saying I will listen to our people’s thoughts after returning home. I will have that opportunity from tomorrow. I will make a selfless decision with a humble heart,” Ban said at the airport after his arrival.
Ban’s possible path to the presidency hit a bump this week when his younger brother, Ban Ki-sang, and nephew, Joo Hyun Bahn, were accused in a Manhattan federal court of a scheme to bribe a Middle Eastern official in connection with the attempted US$800 million sale of a building complex in Vietnam.
Ban told Korean reporters in New York on Wednesday, before his departure for South Korea, that he was dismayed by the affair and had no knowledge of it.
“I am perplexed and embarrassed that close members of my family have become involved in something like this.
