The main opposition party’s leader on Tuesday vowed support for constitutional reforms to limit what he called overreaching presidential powers, a day after President Park Geun-hye reiterated her opposition to revising the Constitution.

New Politics Alliance for Democracy chair Rep. Moon Hee-sang also criticized Park’s refusal to sack her chief of staff Kim Ki-choon, and a group of presidential aides alleged to have meddled in state affairs, during his New Year address at the National Assembly.

“President Park said (in her New Year address) that debates over revising the Constitution would take public focus away from her efforts to boost our economy,” Moon said.

“But now is also the ‘golden hour’ to fix our Constitution, a law that allows the president political powers that I fear resemble those of an emperor,” the five-term lawmaker said.

Moon and senior NPAD lawmakers have called for constitutional amendments that would diminish the chief executive’s authority over domestic affairs, such as the right to nominate members of the Cabinet and the Constitutional Court, the nation’s highest judicial body.

But Park had said during her New Year address on Monday that she was against discussing constitutional reforms.

They would create unnecessary partisan wrangling between the NPAD and the governing Saenuri Party and block the enactment of key economic bills, she had said. Public support for constitutional reform was also lacking, Park added.

NPAD officials say, though, that the president wields unwarranted political advantages over governing party lawmakers, who often seek positions in the Cabinet to boost their political careers.

Members of Park’s Saenuri Party have also expressed support for constitutional reform including Saenuri chair Rep. Kim Moo-sung and Rep. Lee Jae-oh, a five-term lawmaker close to former President Lee Myung-bak, Park’s former political rival.

Moon also urged Park to sack members of the presidential staff linked to the so-called Chung Yoon-hoi scandal, named after Park’s chief of staff during her years at the parliament.

“I am confident that a large portion of the public supports firing the aides accused of meddling in government affairs,” Moon said.

Ten current and former Park aides have been accused of exerting political pressure on senior government officials to resign. Chung is accused of directing the group’s involvement by using his ties to current presidential staff.

Park said she would retain her staff, though, as the scandal was based on “groundless rumors.”

“How would anyone be able to work with me if I fired someone every time they were linked to uncorroborated rumors?” the president said during her New Year press conference.

Public responses to Park’s comments have been mixed. A poll conducted by Realmeter hours after her address reported only 33 percent of respondents said they “agreed” with the remarks.

Five-hundred adults were surveyed nationwide, and the poll has a 4.4 percent margin of error and a 95 percent confidence level.

But rumors that Park could reshuffle members of her senior staff surfaced Tuesday when Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Min Kyung-wook announced Park was “closely monitoring responses” to her address.

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)