The National Assembly will hold a plenary session on Wednesday afternoon with the possible passage of a budget bill at the center of attention.

On December 8, the deputy floor leaders of the ruling People Power Party(PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party(DP) announced that they agreed to vote on next year’s state budget in a plenary session scheduled for December 20 and hold additional sessions on December 28 and on January 9 to handle a lineup of pending bills.

The rival parties’ floor leaders and lawmakers on the parliamentary special committee on budget and accounts held a closed meeting with finance minister Choo Kyung-ho on Tuesday to continue negotiations.

The parties have been deadlocked on budget items worth 56-point-nine trillion won out of a total 656 trillion won, with differences remaining on global research and development projects and special expenses for powerful government agencies.

The PPP plans to handle the bill in a plenary session next Thursday if differences are not narrowed by Wednesday, while the DP reaffirmed its determination to unilaterally pass it on Wednesday regardless of progress in the negotiations.

The bill is long overdue, with the legal deadline for its passage of December 2 over two weeks in the past.