The ruling and opposition parties on the 10th agreed to form a special committee on political reform, extend the special committee on pension reform, and set up a special committee for the confirmation hearing of Kim Ho-cheol as chairperson of the Board of Audit and Inspection. However, they failed to reach a consensus on halting the "filibuster" during the December provisional session.
Floor leader Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party of Korea, floor leader Song Eon-seog of the People Power Party, and the two parties' senior deputy floor leaders for operations met for about two hours at the National Assembly in the afternoon and reached the agreement.
First, the special committee on political reform will consist of 18 members—9 from the Democratic Party, 8 from the People Power Party, and 1 from a non-negotiating group—and will operate until before next year's local elections. The Chairperson of the special committee will be a lawmaker from the Democratic Party.
They also agreed to extend the activity period of the special committee on pension reform and to place the related agenda on the floor on the 11th.
On the same day, the plenary session is set to take up: ▲an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act to expand the disclosure of lower court judgments ▲an amendment to the Banking Act to ease consumer burdens by excluding statutory charges when banks calculate additional charges on interest rates ▲an amendment to the Police Officers' Duties Execution Act allowing police officers, in urgent cases, to restrain the distribution of leaflets in border areas. The ruling and opposition parties also agreed to form a special committee for the confirmation hearing of Kim Ho-cheol as chairperson of the Board of Audit and Inspection.
Meanwhile, the two sides failed to find common ground on halting the People Power Party's "filibuster."
Senior deputy floor leader Moon Jin-seok of the Democratic Party said, "We asked to stop the filibuster on livelihood bills and noncontroversial bills, but the opposition continued to say it had no choice but to filibuster."
Senior deputy floor leader for operations Yoo Sang-bum of the People Power Party said, "We have carried out the filibuster to block the Democratic Party's five laws that destroy the judiciary and the three gag laws against the people. With the related bills still unsettled, we have no choice but to continue the filibuster."