A prolonged standoff at South Korea's National Assembly is taking a toll on legislative affairs.
Today, a scheduled Q&A session with government officials has been put on hold,... just a day after the cancellation of the prime minister's planned policy speech on the government's extra budget bill.
Kim Min-ji has more on the gridlock.
No sign of an ease in the impasse at South Korea's parliament.
A three-day interpellation session at the National Assembly that was scheduled to begin on Tuesday has been put on hold.
It was thought the questioning session would be held as planned -- as the agenda was set back in late March,... when parties had agreed to hold a parliament session in April... and given that major issues were to be addressed... such as the inter-Korean summit... and the government's extra budget proposal.
Since the start of the April session last Monday, the assembly has been at a standstill.
The parties are at odds over how to amend the Constitution,... and divided over contentious bills, such as revising the Broadcast Act to strengthen neutrality,... as well as bills that call for the creation of an independent body to root out corruption among high ranking officials.
For now, it appears the paralysis will linger for some time... with parties sticking to the blame game -- nor do the floor leaders of the major parties have plans to meet each other to iron out their differences on Tuesday.
They met three times on Monday -- but only reconfirmed their differences.
However, with a stack of agendas to go through -- such as working on amending the Constitution,... as well as deliberating the government's extra budget bill -- lawmakers are under pressure themselves.
Some pundits say should rival parties leave the session like this -- getting no work done -- they will be subject to harsh public criticism.
At the end of the day,... the rival parties will have to make concessions -- but the question is exactly when and which party will make the first move.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.
