It has been an inauspicious return to crisis-plagued South Korea for former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, once the odds-on favorite to be the nation’s next president, who has been ensnared in a family corruption scandal and struggled with a skeptical media.
Ban, 72, has been unable to capitalize on his much-anticipated homecoming after a decade as UN secretary-general in New York. Since his return on Jan. 12, he has cut a sometimes-irritable figure in public and been pilloried for a series of perceived public relations gaffes — all without announcing any intention to run for president.
Now the US has asked South Korea to arrest his brother, Ban Ki-sang, on charges that he engaged in a bribery scheme to carry out the sale of a Vietnamese building complex.
The timing of the case could hardly be worse for Ban Ki-moon, whose high international profile and clean image were expected to be assets as he returned to a nation reeling from a presidential corruption scandal.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has been impeached by parliament and stripped of her powers while a court decides her fate.
Ban Ki-moon on Saturday apologized for family members who had caused public concern.
“I have absolutely no knowledge of this case,” he said in a statement.
However, a Realmeter poll released on Monday showed his support slipping from 22.2 percent last week to 19.8 percent, compared with 29.1 percent for Moon Jae-in of the opposition Democratic Party.
The poll numbers are volatile and analysts say it is too early to count out Ban Ki-moon. However, if Moon holds his lead, he would become the first liberal to be elected South Korean president in nearly a decade.
Ban Ki-moon has yet to affiliate himself with a party, but had been expected to run as a conservative.
If the impeachment vote against Park is upheld by the Constitutional Court of Korea, she will have to quit and an election would be held two months later. A ruling is expected as soon as next month.
Ban Ki-moon has a team of politicians and former diplomats supporting him and has made several campaign-style appearances around the country since his return, pitching him in the full glare of the media spotlight.
On his arrival in Seoul, Ban Ki-moon took the airport express train instead of a limo, but did not know how to buy a ticket. He was pictured trying to insert two 10,000 won (US$8.57) bills into the machine at the same time for a 7,500 won ticket.
“Couldn’t you have treated it as something cute from a person who’d been in New York for a long time?” he said at a meeting with voters and reporters in the southern city of Daegu. “I really wish they wouldn’t act with malice.”
Two days later, Ban Ki-moon visited a care home where he fed porridge to an old woman. He was criticized for wearing a bib when the old woman was not — and for feeding someone lying flat on their back.
He also dressed head to toe in protective gear to try out a disinfectant spray when all those around him wore ordinary clothes, media said.
And he was criticized for picking up a bottle of Evian mineral water from a convenience store before being told by an aide he should buy a local product.
A cartoon in the left-leaning Hankyoreh newspaper managed to combine the gaffes — Ban Ki-moon in protective gear and bib trying to feed a hospital patient with two 10,000 won notes with a giant bottle of Evian on his back.
Until recently, he had been tipped to run as a member of Park’s conservative Saenuri party.
However, being a Saenuri candidate looks far less attractive now because of the corruption scandal and he has been seen as likely to join a new breakaway group from the conservative bloc, the Barun Party, which has been weighing several potential candidates for president.
However, a party, funds and political machinery to support Ban Ki-moon could come together quickly if and when he announces he will run for president.
Kookmin University political science professor Hong Sung-gul said Ban Ki-moon must be disappointed by his reception.
“That’s what happens when there are high expectations and you don’t come in with a clear and specific message,” he said. “But it is too early to write off his campaign as being in serious trouble.”
Ban Ki-moon himself on Monday admitted to some “clumsy moments.”
“I was impatient and had passion for wanting to go and meet the people as soon as I could, so there were little mistakes,” he said.
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