The ruling Democratic Party(DP) will not push ahead with an amendment that would suspend ongoing trials of sitting presidents for the duration of their term in office.

DP chief spokesperson Park Soo-hyun announced in a briefing at the National Assembly on Monday that party leadership had decided instead to focus on tariff negotiations with the U.S. and on the outcomes of last week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) summit in Gyeongju. 

Park said the party notified the presidential office of its decision, stressing that the top office had not expressed its position in advance.

When asked whether the ruling party was discarding the bill altogether, the spokesperson replied, "Yes."

Though Park had mentioned the bill's potential passage as recently as Sunday, the party likely backtracked amid public backlash, with President Lee Jae Myung's five pending trials put on hold since he took office in June.

The bill, which secured approval from the Legislation and Judiciary Committee just before Lee's inauguration, is expected to be left as it is without a plenary vote.

There had been a renewed push for the bill after suspects in a land development scandal, for which President Lee Jae Myung has also been indicted, received four to eight year prison sentences on Friday.