AKIPRESS.COM - The scandal surrounding South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s long-time confidant Choi Soon-sil is expected to affect outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s decision whether to launch a presidential bid in 2017, reports South China Morning Post.

Ban, who has been rumored to be backed by Park as the ruling Saenuri Party candidate, has suffered a fall in popularity in the latest polls of presidential hopefuls as the scandal escalates. It has called the ethics of the President into question and triggered a leadership crisis for her, which may negatively affect Ban’s reputation as well.

Analysts said Sunday that Ban may try to distance himself from Park and Saenuri Party. They speculated that the UN chief may consider diverse options, if he wants to engage in politics after quitting the UN, such as joining hands with center-right conservatives from the Saenuri Party’s minor factions and the minor opposition People’s Party.

Although he never explicitly showed interest in running for presidency, Ban has left the possibility open. In an interview with Reuters on October 21, he said, “I should make myself available for a better future of Korea that I am conscious of” when his UN tenure ends in December.

“Ban will be wary of the impact of the Choi Soon-sil gate on his popularity,” said Choi Chang-ryul, a professor of political science at Yongin University. “He is likely to opt for a third way to avoid failure in his possible presidency.”

Ban, who has been the favored potential candidate for the 2017 presidential election, was still the runaway leader with 21.5 percent in a survey taken in October.

Ban’s favorability rating, however, was down 0.7 percentage points from a week earlier, while runner-up Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) enjoyed a 0.8 percentage point increase for 19.7 percent support.

During the same period, the approval rating of the President fell to her lowest at 17.5 percent since she took office in February 2013. In a separate poll jointly conducted by Media Today and STI on October 26, Ban allowed Moon the lead of 24 percent to 37 percent in a hypothetical three-way presidential race involving Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, a presidential hopeful for the People’s Party.