Ex-Prosecutor-General Leads Fantasy President League

With just about a year left until the next election, maverick Prosecutor-General Yoon Suk-yeol has bolstered his status as many people's favorite fantasy president since his resignation last week.

In a poll released Monday by the Korea Society Opinion Institute, Yoon came out on top among potential presidential candidates, given a boost by his stern words for the government as he quit after a yearlong campaign to oust him.

Yoon garnered a 32.4 percent in the straw poll of 1,023 people, up 17.8 percent from six weeks ago. Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung came second with 24.1 percent and Minjoo Party leader Lee Nak-yon third with 14.9 percent.

In a Realmeter poll last week, Yoon was also the top choice for president with 28.3 percent, followed by Lee Jae-myung with 22.4 percent and Lee Nak-yon with 13.8 percent.

Lee Nak-yon was at one time the frontrunner with over 40 percent support but has now been left in the dust after the parliamentary party railroaded through a number of unpopular measures and has lagged behind fellow party member Lee Jae-myung since late last year.

Lee quit the party's leadership on Tuesday under regulations which ban a member who runs in the presidential race from holding any major party posts at least a year before the election. He is now expected to put his efforts into helping candidates in the mayoral by-elections in Seoul and Busan before launching his presidential campaign.

The poll still suggests that combined support for the ruling party would trump any independent candidate while the opposition bloc remains in disarray.

Yoon has not declared his ambitions.