Rival parties fail to reach agreement on extra budget

SEOUL, May 19 (Yonhap) -- The ruling and opposition parties failed again to reach an agreement on government-requested supplementary budget Saturday, forcing a plenary session of the National Assembly to be delayed until next week.

The ruling Democratic Party and the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) were not able to narrow their differences over the 3.9 trillion won (US$3.6 billion) extra budget in a meeting of the special committee on budget and accounts held Saturday, their officials said.

They and minor opposition parties earlier agreed to hold a plenary session of parliament on the day to vote on the extra budget bill.

"The plenary session scheduled to be held cannot be held and is indefinitely postponed," ruling party floor leader Hong Young-pyo said in a text message sent to party lawmakers.

LKP floor leader Kim Sung-tae said there will be "no plenary session today."

The special committee meeting ended after only an hour as the main opposition party demanded significant cuts in the requested budget, claiming the government was seeking to fund new projects that have already been rejected under the annual budget.

The committee meeting later resumed as the rival parties agreed on the need to continue deliberating the budget request, but they both noted that an agreement before 9 p.m., when the parliamentary session was originally set to start, was unlikely.

The main opposition party later said it has agreed with two minor opposition parties -- the Bareunmirae Party and the Party for Peace and Democracy -- to vote on the extra budget bill in a plenary session scheduled for Monday.
(END)