Gaffes mar ex-UN chief ’s presidential prospects

It has been an inauspicious return to crisisplagued 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. Since his return on Jan. 12, he has cut a sometimes-irritable figure in public and been pilloried for a series of perceived PR gaffes.

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 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.

However, a Realmeter poll released on Monday showed Ban’s support slipping from 22.2 per cent last week to 19.8 per cent, compared with 29.1 per cent 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. However, if Moon holds his lead, he would become the first liberal to be elected president in nearly a decade.

Ban has yet to affiliate himself with a party but had been expected to run as a conservative.

Ban has a team of politicians and former diplomats supporting him and has made several campaign-style appearances around the country since his return.

On his arrival in Seoul, Ban took the airport express train instead of a limo, but didn’t know how to buy a ticket. He was pictured trying to insert two 10,000 won 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 protested at a meeting with voters and reporters in the southern city of Daegu. Two day s later, Ban visited a care home where he fed porridge to an old woman. He was criticised 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 most of those around him wore ordinary clothes, media said. And he was criticised for picking up a bottle of Evian mineral water from a store before being told by an aide he should buy a local product.

Until recently, Ban had been tipped to run as a member of Park’s conservative Saenuri party.

But 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.

However, a party, funds and political machinery to support Ban could come together quickly if and when he announces he will run for president.

Kookmin University political science professor Hong Sung-gul said Ban must be disappointed by his reception.

“But it is too early to write off campaign as being in trouble,” he said.

Ban himself admitted to some “clumsy moments”. his