Scandal, gaffes hurt former UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s presidential ambitions in South Korea

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Former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon shakes hands with Hubo, a humanoid robot, during his visit to the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Photo: EPA

Published: 4:03pm, 24 Jan 2017Updated: 10:41pm, 24 Jan 2017

It has been an inauspicious return to crisis-plagued South Korea for former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, once the odds-on favourite to be the next president, who has been ensnared in a family corruption scandal and struggled with a sceptical press.

Ban, 72, has been unable to capitalise on his much-anticipated homecoming after a decade as secretary-general of the United Nations in New York.

I was impatient and had passion for wanting to go and meet the people as soon as I could, so there were little mistakes

Ban Ki-moon

Since his return on January 12, he has cut a sometimes-irritable figure in public and been pilloried for a series of perceived PR gaffes – all without announcing any intention to run for president.

Now the United States 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, whose high international profile and clean image were expected to be assets as he returned to a nation reeling from a presidential corruption scandal. President Park Geun-hye has been impeached by parliament and stripped of her powers while a court decides her fate.

Ban Ki-moon apologised on Saturday for family members who had caused public concern. “I have absolutely no knowledge of this case,” he said in a statement.