Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl has privately expressed his willingness to run in next year's presidential election, an opposition lawmaker said Wednesday.

Yoon is one of two leading potential presidential candidates, according to various opinion polls, though he has yet to declare his intent to run.

"(Yoon) suggested that he will take the lead in the change of government with all his heart and soul," Rep. Kwon Seong-dong of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) told a radio talk show, while sharing details of his four-hour conversation with Yoon on Saturday.

They met in the eastern city of Gangneung, where Kwon's constituency is located, when Yoon visited his mother's hometown there.

Yoon made the remark in response to a participant's request that he soon announce his presidential bid, according to the lawmaker.

The PPP, which has no powerful presidential hopefuls, hopes Yoon will enter the party and join its primary to pick its flagbearer.

Yoon did not comment on whether he would join the PPP during the meeting, but Kwon expects him to do so, given that Yoon himself called and requested to meet the party's fourth-term lawmaker.

Referring to Yoon's recent meetings and phone talks with several other PPP lawmakers, Kwon said, "It is a political expression that he will be with our party in the race for presidency." (Yonhap)