South Korea's ruling party leader Park Geun-hye, bolstered by the conservative party's surprise win in the tightly contested parliamentary elections, vowed Thursday to overcome divisive politics at home.

"(The voters) gave us a last chance," Park told a press conference in Seoul. "The Saenuri Party will achieve a national unity. We will embrace all generations and people of all social classes."

The party will make good on all its campaign pledges and put aside partisan wrangling, she added.

Her remarks came after the party won 152 seats in an upset victory in general elections Wednesday, retaining its parliamentary majority the party once looked set to lose.

The surprise win defied previous expectations a series of scandals that had hit hard the ruling party will bolster the liberal opposition represented by the main opposition Democratic United Party and the left-leaning Unified Progressive Party.

The two opposition parties, which had jointly fielded candidates in a broad coalition, garnered 140 seats in total.

The election victory provided tailwind for Park, a top presidential contender, just eight months before the presidential poll.

After taking over the beleaguered party proven widely unpopular among young voters, she led reform efforts focused on shedding its image as a party for the rich and the powerful.

The daughter of former military strongman Park Chung-hee, the junior Park evokes nostalgia for the country's rags-to-riches economic development among old voters.

Among her potential rivals is Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party, a former human rights lawyer who achieved a symbolic victory Wednesday in a district in the conservative stronghold of Busan.

President Lee Myung-bak's single five-year term ends early next year.