United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday he would go all out to advance his homeland South Korea with his decade-long experience as UN chief, hinting that he would run for the country’s next president.

“I am willing to make my full effort if what I have learned and seen as UN Secretary-General over the past 10 years can be of help to Korea,” Ban told Korean reporters at a press conference held in New York on Tuesday (local time). “I am deeply contemplating and thinking about how and where I should dedicate myself.”

Ban’s tenure ends as UN chief later this month.

“Although I am 73 years old, I am willing to fully devote myself to the country as long as my health allows it,” he added.

Ban, the former Korean foreign minister under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, has rose to the second place in polls of potential presidential candidates behind Moon Jae-in, former secretary of late, former President Roh. The conservative Saenuri Party has been trying courting Ban for its candidate for next presidency.

When asked about the possibility of joining the Saenuri Party, Ban dodged providing a direct answer by saying that “politics cannot be done alone and rather there should be certain means and vision.” He, however, has not deeply thought about them.

With regard to the current political situation in Korea that has been in turmoil after the power abuse scandal involving President Park Geun-hye’s close friend Choi Soon-sil, a legislative motion that was passed to impeach the president, and the massive candlelight vigil against the president, Ban said that “people are feeling frustrated and resentment towards a lack of good governance” which he believes is a result of “wrong system and leadership.”

By Hwang In-hyuk

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