Ban Ki-moon Leads Early Polls for Next President of South Korea

It looks like if Ban Ki-moon wants the job as President of South Korea, it is his to lose:

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon led all potential presidential contenders in a poll after he made the strongest hint yet of a possible run in next year’s election.

In a poll conducted by the JoongAng Ilbo on Friday and Saturday of 1,000 eligible voters nationwide, respondents were asked who they would like to see as Korea’s next president. Ban topped the list with 28.4 percent, followed by Moon Jae-in of the Minjoo Party of Korea with 16.2 percent. Ahn Cheol-soo, co-leader of the People’s Party, came in third with 11.9 percent.

The poll was seen as a testament to Ban’s far-reaching appeal to voters and a favorable image formed by his 10-year leadership of the United Nations.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who expressed an objection to Ban running, citing a UN resolution that calls on UN chiefs to refrain from taking government jobs, came in fourth with 7.2 percent, trailed by former Saenuri Chairman Kim Moo-sung with 4.2 percent.

In a three-way race with Moon and Ahn, both from the liberal bloc, Ban was far ahead of the two, with 45.7 percent of support, while Moon received 24.6 percent and Ahn had 20.1 percent. Of all respondents, 9.7 percent said they didn’t have a favorite.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

I have always liked Ban Ki-moon because when he was the foreign minister of South Korea he was the voice of sanity during the administration of Roh Moo-hyun.  Even during the fervent anti-American years Ban Ki-moon would still visit US military installations in Korea to thank US servicemembers for their service.  With that all said he is running the UN about as I expected.  Ban is a consensus builder and not a change agent.  He can run things low key and competently within an established framework which right now it appears this is what Korean voters want for their President.