Park Geun-hye, Ahn Cheol-soo potential Korean presidential candidates

Leading South Korean presidential hopeful Park Geun-hye has a slim lead over star IT expert and professor Ahn Cheol-soo, the latest voter survey showed Wednesday, underlining Ahn's high popularity even after passing up a bid for Seoul mayor. Park of the ruling Grand National Party, who has aspired to become South Korea's first female president, had long maintained an unrivaled lead in opinion polls over other possible contenders until Ahn's emergence earlier this month. In last week's polls released shortly after Ahn decided not to run in next month's mayoral by-election, Park lost her lead for the first time in years to the 49-year-old founder of South Korea's best-known anti-virus software firm Ahnlab. In the latest survey of 1,000 adults nationwide conducted by polling agency Media Research on Tuesday, Park restored her lead with 45.2 percent against Ahn's 41.2 percent. The survey, commissioned by the mass daily Chosun Ilbo, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Park's lead in other polls was well within margins of error. In another survey conducted by Yeouido Research commissioned by the local daily Seoul Shinmun, 46.1 percent of 2,206 adults favored Park over Ahn with 44.3 percent. Ahn, who is now dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University, has denied his ambition for the top office.