The nation’s two main parties fell into deeper turmoil on Friday as they struggled to respond to President Park Geun-hye’s veto of a controversial parliamentary law and her brutal denouncement of lawmakers attempting to challenge the government’s administrative power.

Boycotting all parliamentary sessions, the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy demanded the president apologize for her “malicious” remarks and disparaged her veto as a mere political show.

The NPAD vowed not to cooperate with the ruling party for an indefinite period, except for issues related to Middle East respiratory syndrome.

“President Park’s exercise of her veto is nothing more than a dirty political trick to evade the government’s responsibility over (the outbreak of MERS) and to turn the public criticism to something else,” said NPAD chairman Moon Jae-in at an impromptu news conference held at the National Assembly.

“The president is the one who should be judged by the people.”

Moon was firing back at Park who bashed politicians both from rival parties Thursday for pursuing their own political interests, instead of legislating urgent bills aimed at improving their livelihoods.

In a rare lengthy statement delivered in a strong tone, Park blasted both parties for overstepping their boundaries and neglecting their duties for passing the bill that enables lawmakers to seek changes to government ordinances.

Park also slammed lawmakers for “betraying the people” and said their act should be judged by voters in the next election.

Her sharp criticism also exposed cracks in relationship between Park and her own party as she directly blamed the Saenuri leadership for succumbing to the opposition party’s demand to pass the revision to the National Assembly act.

Rumors also swirled around Friday that Park may defect from the ruling party ahead of general elections next year. Cheong Wa Dae denied, saying it is “a novel-like story.”

In an all-out effort to salvage the deteriorating relationship, the governing party on Thursday evening decided to reject the opposition’s demand to override Park’s veto. The bill requires the approval of more than two-thirds of attending lawmakers. If the vote fails to meet the quorum of 149 lawmakers, the bill will automatically be scrapped.

Rep. Yoo Seung-min, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, also offered a public apology to the president for

causing her concern. But he defended himself, saying he had done his best to pass a reform bill on civil servants’ pensions for the success of the Park government.

“I feel truly sorry to President Park Geun-hye. I owe an apology to the president for the ruling party’s lack of support to her devoted drive on state affairs,” Yoo said.

“But I, as well as the party chief and other lawmakers, truly wanted to support the Park government by passing the (pension) bill by any means. … I expect that she will open her heart to us,” he said.

Despite his apology, Cheong Wa Dae also turned a cold shoulder to the party ― a move seen as pressuring the chief whip to resign. An official told Yonhap news agency that Saenuri Party seems to be unaware of the gravity of the president’s remark.

Factional feuds within the ruling party appeared to be intensifying with pro-Park lawmakers demanding Yoo to step down and nonmainstream lawmakers confronting the idea.

Park’s approval ratings, meanwhile, rebounded to 33 percent this week, a 4 percentage points increase from the previous week, according to a local pollster Gallup Korea. Signs of a slowdown in the MERS spread may have played a part, it noted.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)