SEOUL, KOREA — On Thursday, ending months of silence, he finally spoke in his latest book "Ahn Cheol-Soo's thoughts". Ahnlab's founder put together his insights into a wide range of several controversial issues including democratizing economy, policy toward North Korea, youth unemployment, strikes across the media industry, crumbling public education, and more.
Ahn's personal approaches in the dialogue-based book might be the tell-tale sign of his political maneuver concerning this year's presidential election in December. Analysts interpret it as his de-facto bidding for the position: a leading contender against the ruling party's frontrunner Rep. Park Geun-hye.
"Based on all of my thoughts expressed in my book, I want to move forward together with more people," He hinted at his future decision, "If I can find more people who are agreeable, I may have to keep going forward. If less people, it means I am not up to the task." He added, "Challenging is hard but not something one should be afraid of."
His political cue came late last year when specualtion grew as Ahn was rumored to enter the Seoul mayoral by-election in October, 2011. His influence manifested itself: Ahn's support helped an independent candidate won the Seoul Mayoral competition. Since then, his popularity and approval ratings as a potential presidential runner have been boosted.
He is now serving as the dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul national university.
