Rival parties to meet in attempt to reach last-minute deal to normalize parliament
- 6 years ago
It's expected to be the last day of negotiations to normalize the National Assembly.
Rival parties will meet in less than 30 minutes from now... to see if they can reach some sort of compromise... namely on the online opinion rigging scandal, and the handling of the extra budget bill.
The National Assembly Speaker has given parties until 2 PM to reach an agreement.
For more, we connect to our National Assembly correspondent Kim Min-ji.
Minji,... we await the start of this crunch meeting, but how are things looking?
Mark.
Like you said, in about half an hour from now... the National Assembly Speaker will meet with the floor leaders of the country's four negotiating blocs.
The biggest issue is whether the ruling Democratic Party of Korea will accept an independent counsel probe into an online opinion rigging scandal that allegedly involves one of its lawmakers.
An influential blogger is suspected to have used a computer program to boost the number of "likes" for online comments critical of the Moon Jae-in administration in a bid to smear conservatives.
The ruling party indicated it would accept the demand but on the condition that opposition parties simultaneously vote on the government's extra budget bill during a plenary session on May 24th.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party and the centrist Bareun Mirae Party say the probe must come first... and the ruling party shouldn't link it with other issues.
Now, all eyes will be on whether parties will be able to reach a last minute deal.
The National Assembly Speaker has set a deadline of 2PM today -- so in less than four hours.
He leaves for an overseas trip on Wednesday... and both his term and the floor leader of the ruling party's term come to an end this month.
But a compromise looks like it may be difficult -- with the ruling party saying it won't make any further concessions... and the main opposition saying they won't budge unless the probe is accepted.... no strings attached.
But there's also a belief that some sort of breakthrough is possible as the standstill has been in place for over a month... and there's pressure on the National Assembly -- having gotten nothing done during that time.
Rival parties will meet in less than 30 minutes from now... to see if they can reach some sort of compromise... namely on the online opinion rigging scandal, and the handling of the extra budget bill.
The National Assembly Speaker has given parties until 2 PM to reach an agreement.
For more, we connect to our National Assembly correspondent Kim Min-ji.
Minji,... we await the start of this crunch meeting, but how are things looking?
Mark.
Like you said, in about half an hour from now... the National Assembly Speaker will meet with the floor leaders of the country's four negotiating blocs.
The biggest issue is whether the ruling Democratic Party of Korea will accept an independent counsel probe into an online opinion rigging scandal that allegedly involves one of its lawmakers.
An influential blogger is suspected to have used a computer program to boost the number of "likes" for online comments critical of the Moon Jae-in administration in a bid to smear conservatives.
The ruling party indicated it would accept the demand but on the condition that opposition parties simultaneously vote on the government's extra budget bill during a plenary session on May 24th.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party and the centrist Bareun Mirae Party say the probe must come first... and the ruling party shouldn't link it with other issues.
Now, all eyes will be on whether parties will be able to reach a last minute deal.
The National Assembly Speaker has set a deadline of 2PM today -- so in less than four hours.
He leaves for an overseas trip on Wednesday... and both his term and the floor leader of the ruling party's term come to an end this month.
But a compromise looks like it may be difficult -- with the ruling party saying it won't make any further concessions... and the main opposition saying they won't budge unless the probe is accepted.... no strings attached.
But there's also a belief that some sort of breakthrough is possible as the standstill has been in place for over a month... and there's pressure on the National Assembly -- having gotten nothing done during that time.