Seoul, South Korea: Former United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon announced he will not stand for the presidency of his country on Wednesday.

Ban returned home last month after a decade in New York and was widely expected to run in elections due this year.

‘I will withdraw from politics,’ he told reporters. ‘I’m sorry for disappointing many people,’ he added.

Although he never officially declared he was running for the presidency, the former UN chief embarked on a series of public appearances and was widely expected to join the ruling Saenuri party of impeached President Park Geun-Hye, or an emerging conservative breakaway for the upcoming presidential elections.

But he struggled to secure party backing in South Korea’s highly partisan political system, corruption allegations were made against some of his relatives, and pictures of him trying to put two banknotes into a ticket machine at once made him appear out of touch.

‘My pure patriotism and aspirations have fallen victim to slander that was close to personality slaughter,’ he said before bowing briefly, shuffling his papers and leaving the stage.

His support in public opinion polls rapidly declined from 20.3 per cent when he returned to 13.1 per cent before his announcement.

A career diplomat, Ban never joined any South Korean political party, although he served as foreign minister under the late liberal president Roh Moo-Hyun from 2004 to 2006.