Former presidential candidate and member of the main opposition Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo on Tuesday confirmed his plan to run in the 2017 presidential election.

In a radio interview, Ahn said “of course” to a question on his bid, after repeatedly trying to dodge a direct response such as by saying, “The decision is not up to me, but the people.”

Ahn’s confirmation signaled a looming rivalry with the New Politics Alliance for Democracy chairman Rep. Moon Jae-in, who is considered the front-runner for the party’s next presidential candidacy.

The two have shared love-hate relationship since the 2012 presidential race, when independent candidate Ahn withdrew his bid and threw his support behind Moon to jointly go up against Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye. Their last-minute collaboration, following a tumultuous negotiation, was considered inevitable as Moon was suffering from lagging ratings, while Ahn, a novice politician, lacked partisan backing despite his high popularity.

Their ostensible partnership, however, has remained rickety as Ahn often butted heads with Moon, who became the party leader in March, over key controversial issues. Most recently, Ahn turned down Moon’s public proposal for him to lead the party’s reform after its crushing by-elections defeat. Ahn’s rejection dealt a blow to Moon, who was already facing mounting criticism from the party’s nonmainstreamers for his leadership.

Later, Ahn’s associates said the former entrepreneur’s presidential bid remarks were a “theoretical” one and that no significant meaning should be placed.

Ahn’s interview was carried out on the same day when the NPAD members led by Moon attended a workshop to review party reforms and policies. Ahn’s absence at the event illustrated internal discord within the party suffering from deep-rooted factional feud between former President Roh Moo-hyun’s loyalists and the non-mainstreamers.

During the interview, Ahn said he turned down Moon’s offer to head the reform team because he deemed he was not fit for the post. The party leadership later picked Kim Sang-kon, former head of the Gyeonggi Provincial Education Office, to chair the committee.

Ahn also took the opportunity for a swipe at Moon.

“Didn’t he win the (party leadership race) by pledging reform? In order for the reform chairman to succeed, the party chairman must stand in the front and work to narrow the differences when reform ideas are met by opposition,” Ahn said.

“A failure by the reform committee chair would be equivalent to a failure of the party chairman.”

Latest surveys show Moon leading Ahn among the potential next presidential candidates.

In the Gallup poll conducted on May 12-14, Moon received 15 percent of approval ratings, while Ahn collected 10 percent.

Another survey by Realmeter on May 26-29 showed Moon leading Ahn by a larger margin with 18.3 percent against 7.7 percent.

(jhl@heraldcorp.com)