By Kim Hyo-jin
Loyalists to President Park Geun-hye are seeking to get U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to participate in a Saenuri Party primary next year to choose its presidential candidate, sources said Friday.
Ban has maintained an ambiguous stance over media reports that he may join the presidential race next year after finishing his U.N. term in December.
However, since pro-Park lawmakers secured key party posts through a caucus in early August, there are growing signs he is being favored by the dominant faction as the party’s presidential candidate.
According to Ban’s aides, Ban has been asked ― directly and indirectly ― by some Saenuri Party lawmakers recently to join the ruling party.
“However, Ban did not react,” an aide said on condition of anonymity. “He is just trying to keep his distance from politicians. It is burdening for him to stay close to any specific political party.”
Nevertheless, rumors are circulating that supporters of Ban are increasing activities behind the scenes.
Following a victory at the leadership election, Park loyalists began to publicize their intention to join hands with Ban in the run-up to the presidential election.
“I plan to recruit potential candidates from outside the party,” Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, the new Saenuri Party chairman, said at a press conference, Aug.15, indicating that the party was set to reach out to Ban. “There will be no one who will oppose this idea.”
Rep. Cho Won-jin, a member of the party’s decision-making Supreme Council, agreed.
“Considering the timing, we should start putting our presidential candidates in play within this year,” he said during a radio interview. “We hope Ban will figure out how to fit into the domestic political arena as soon as his term as the U.N. chief finishes.”
But Ban’s aides remained wary of the heated climate around him.
“Politicians are stepping way ahead,” an aide said. “It is just a scenario among Park’s confidants.”
He expressed doubt that the current political landscape in the ruling party would work favorably for Ban.
“Now that the pro-Park lawmakers have taken the helm at the party, many say it will be helpful to Ban in launching a presidential bid more easily. But I and other confidants of Ban don’t agree.”
Ban is reluctant to be labeled as a presidential candidate backed by pro-Park lawmakers, a ruling party Assemblyman, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
“Before the party’s national convention, Ban said it would be burdensome to run in the party where confidants of the President take hold of the leadership,” he said. “Ban must be perplexed now that the pro-Park lawmakers swept the leadership posts.”
Hwang Tae-soon, a political commentator, interpreted such responses as a politically calculated move.
“Ban might be worried about being looked at as a puppet of a political faction,” he said. “He would know an image of him landing in domestic politics with unwavering support of pro-Park members could deal a blow to a successful presidential campaign.
“Earning a bid in the process of competing with other intra-party contenders like former party Chairman Kim Moo-sung and ex-Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon will give him credibility and justification.”
At the party’s national convention, Aug. 9, Lee, a staunch confidant of Park, was elected the new chairman to head the party in the lead-up to the 2017 presidential election. Four out of five Supreme Council members elected on the same day are known to be loyalists to the President.
Analysts viewed that Ban’s potential bid for presidency will gain momentum with pro-Park members, who support him, in power.