AFP, SEOUL: Former United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon abruptly ended his attempt to seek South Korea’s presidency Wednesday, dropping a lifetime of diplomacy to denounce his country’s political establishment.
Ban returned home last month after a decade in New York and was widely expected to run in elections due this year, but his putative candidacy ran into a series of stumbles and he struggled for backing.
“I will give up my pure intention to bring about a change in politics under my leadership and to unify the country,” he told reporters at a hastily arranged press conference. “I’m sorry for disappointing many people.”
Although he never officially declared he was running, the former UN chief embarked on a series of public appearances and repeatedly spoke of the need to bring about a “change in politics” in a country where a wide-ranging corruption scandal has seen President Park Geun-Hye impeached.
Reports claimed he had signed a contract to rent a 660-square metre office in Seoul, and as recently as Tuesday he was urging a change to the constitution to dilute the sweeping executive powers of the presidency and ensure more co-operative governance.
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AFP, AVDIIVKA, Ukraine: The death toll from the latest escalation in fighting in Ukraine rose to 16 on Wednesday as international alarm rang out over the spike in bloodshed in the European Union’s… 
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
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