The government and main opposition parties agreed on Saturday to postpone a plenary session of the National Assembly that was scheduled for later in the day to deal with an extra budget item. Instead, the ruling People Power Party and the major opposition Democratic Party informally agreed to meet at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. For weeks, the PPP and the DP have been at odds over the extent of the additional budget intended to compensate small companies affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
While the PPP backed the government’s original proposal of 36.4 trillion won ($29 billion), the DP proposed spending of over 50 trillion won for small merchants, which includes a budget for retroactive coverage of their losses and emergency loan programs.
The two sides appear to have decided to open the session later amid failed attempts to narrow down differences under the table.
Earlier, the floor leaders of both parties had tentatively agreed to hold the session at 8 p.m. Saturday as they agreed to make efforts to pass the budget no later than this weekend. (Yonhap)