ⓒYONHAP News

With the National Assembly in a state of paralysis, Speaker Moon Hee-sang has made clear on Friday he will open the floor for a plenary session on Monday and Tuesday to deliberate on key pending legislation, including controversial fast-tracked reform bills.

Moon was cited as saying that the current session cannot expire without passing any bills and that the 2020 budget and related legislation must be processed over the two days.

He also noted that all of the bills put on the plenary session calendar must be put to a vote as well.

This announcement came after lawmakers again failed to resolve their deadlock over a planned filibuster that paralyzed parliament for a full week.

Friday afternoon, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang had arranged a meeting between the floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to reach a compromise.

However, main opposition Liberty Korea Party floor leader Na Kyung-won did not join the talks, collapsing the prospect of passing non-contentious bills, including the government's budget plan for next year.

Earlier in the day, the floor leaders of the rival parties were working on a mediation plan that would see the LKP scrap its filibuster and have the ruling Democratic Party delay the passage of contentious fast-tracked legislation.

The LKP scheduled a filibuster on November 29th, holding up voting on 199 pending bills in a bid to block revisions to the nation's election law and the creation of a new anti-corruption investigator. The DP and smaller opposition parties chose not to open floor proceedings to prevent a series of filibuster speeches.