AKIPRESS.COM - Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon abruptly dropped his plans to pursue the presidency of South Korea, ending a brief flirtation with domestic electoral politics and leaving the country’s ruling conservatives without a clear candidate to replace impeached President Park Geun-hye.

Mr. Ban, who returned to South Korea in January after ending his 10-year term at the U.N., stoked speculation about his future plans by saying he would give his all for the nation, and touring the country, Wall Street Journal reported.

Shortly before his return, domestic polls had shown Mr. Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, as one of the strongest contenders to replace Ms. Park, who was impeached by the National Assembly in December amid a political corruption scandal.

But Mr. Ban’s poll numbers declined as he encountered fierce criticism from the domestic media and rival politicians, who described him as out of step with the public anger that led to Ms. Park’s downfall.

Mr. Ban was also pressed on his brother and nephew’s involvement in a bribery case in the U.S. that came just as Mr. Ban was arriving back home.

“I’ve decided to forfeit my pure wish to bring national integration,” Mr. Ban said in a short statement. “The narrow-minded attitude of some politicians was a great disappointment and I realized that it is futile to walk the same path as them.”

Mr. Ban’s announcement on Wednesday leaves Moon Jae-in, a former lawmaker from the country’s largest opposition party who narrowly lost the 2012 presidential election, as the prohibitive front-runner for this year’s election.

While Ms. Park’s impeachment was approved by the country’s lawmakers, a final decision on removing Ms. Park is being deliberated on by South Korea’s Constitutional Court, which has until June to make a decision. If the court votes to remove Ms. Park, a snap election would follow within two months.