Rivals wary of Ahn’s future course of action

Professor Ahn Cheol-soo speaks during SBS talk show “Healing Camp,” Monday, in this captured photo. (Photo : Yonhap)

Campaign strategists and senior politicians are curious about what course of action Ahn Cheol-soo will take regarding the December presidential election, a day after a talk show featuring Ahn drew positive responses from viewers.

The viewer rating of late-night talk show “Healing Camp” stood at 18.7 percent, higher than that of episodes with Rep. Park Geun-hye (12.2) of the ruling Saenuri Party and Rep. Moon Jae-in (10.5) of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP).

Aides of Park were reluctant to react to Ahn’s remarks on the show as they seemed concerned over the positive effect on his opinion poll ratings.

Meanwhile, presidential hopefuls of the DUP tried to downplay the program’s effect on the campaign race. Rep. Chung Sye-kyun pointed out Ahn’s lack of experience in real politics as a decisive weakness as a potential presidential candidate.

Regarding Ahn’s possible presidential bid, there exist two schools of thought in the political circle: idealists and realists.

Idealists predict that he will declare his bid to become president. Very few in the political arena believe that Ahn will take this path because of the risks he will take as a consequence, such as a tarnished image and baseless allegations. Some of his fans, mostly young people who are sick and tired of old politics and hope to see a change in the political arena, are in this group.

But Ahn himself hasn’t ruled out this possibility, asking the public to wait and see what will happen by keeping all options open.

During the talk show, he admitted that his wife and acquaintances have recommended him not to join the presidential race because of the risks.

Meanwhile, realists are skeptical that the dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University would attempt to take risks based on the path he has taken in the past when he chose medical science as a college major and computer vaccine producer as a career. They say Ahn has chosen certainty over uncertainty.

Strategists of the Park Geun-hye camp and senior lawmakers of the main opposition DUP expressed the realistic point of view over the chances for him to join the presidential race.

In an interview, Kim Jong-in, a chief strategist of the Park camp, remained skeptical about the possibility of Ahn declaring his presidential bid.

“I am wondering if Ahn will make a decision which will require him to give up everything that he has achieved so far for the sake of his presidential bid. I doubt it,” Kim said.

He thinks Ahn will probably choose a much safer path, such as remaining as a distinguished supporter of the opposition camp.

Under any scenario, Kim said, Ahn won’t run in the presidential race as a candidate but endorse a standard bearer of the opposition camp as the next leader.

“He did this last year when he endorsed Park Won-soon as mayor of Seoul. I think Ahn appears to have this in mind,” he said.

On Monday, Rep. Lee Hae-chan of the DUP predicted that Ahn may join a three-way race with the winners of the DUP and UPP primaries to select a candidate from the opposition camp.

The DUP leader said a DUP selection would have more chance to win the possible three-way race. The rationale behind this competition is that the two who are to be eliminated will concede defeat and remain as supporters.

Ahn tried to elaborate what he had in mind about visions and thoughts for the nation in “Healing Camp,” on Monday night, while leaving the much anticipated question of whether he will run unanswered.

The computer virus vaccine expert said he needs more time to think about whether he will join the presidential race, and would make his decision public once it is made. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>

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