Former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan said Monday he is leaving open the possibility of running for president in December’s election, though he said he has no intention of seeking a parliamentary seat in next month’s general elections.

Chung, who was once considered a potential opposition presidential candidate ahead of the previous presidential election in 2007, later joined the administration of President Lee Myung-bak and served as prime minister from 2009-2010.

He currently heads a presidential council on shared growth.

Chung has drawn keen media attention following revelations he met with President Lee last week.

The meeting prompted speculation that he may quit the council to focus on politics, such as joining hands with some ruling party lawmakers upset after failing to win party nominations and forming a new party with the new conservative Korea Vision Party ahead of the next month‘s polls.

On Monday, Chung rejected such speculation.

“I have no intention to run in the general elections,” he told Yonhap News Agency, adding that he is not going to join hands with ruling party lawmakers cut off from the party’s candidate selection process either.

Chung said, however, he “leaves open” and is contemplating the possibility of running for president in the December election. He did not elaborate.

The scholar-turned-politician said that Friday‘s meeting with President Lee was mostly about issues related his council and no specific political issues were discussed.

A series of ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers, many of them loyal to President Lee, have been denied party tickets for the parliamentary elections in what they claimed was a political reprisal orchestrated by Lee’s former rival and current party leader Park Geun-hye.

Some of them have already left the party and others are expected to follow suit. (Yonhap News)