UN Chief Ban Ki-moon Signals Willingness to Seek Korea Presidency

  • Yonhap reports Ban saying he can’t yet give definitive answer
  • Ban to return to Korea in January to country shaken by scandal

Ban Ki-moon.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday gave the strongest signal yet that he’s willing to run for president in his native South Korea.

Ban said he’d be inclined to run if his decade-long experience as UN head "can be of help to the country,” Yonhap News reportedBloomberg Terminal him telling Korean reporters in New York. The 72-year-old said he would “burn” himself if it could help his nation -- drawing on a Korean idiom that indicates uncompromising dedication to a cause -- it said.