Rival parties are struggling to iron out their differences on the second extra budget bill of the year designed to provide support to small businesses hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Representatives of the ruling People Power Party(PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party(DP) on the parliamentary budget committee resumed consultations on Wednesday afternoon, following negotiations the previous day.
 
But the talks fell apart in just ten minutes, due to their differing views on the size of the supplementary budget.
 
While the DP reportedly proposed spending of over 50 trillion won, including eight trillion won for retroactive coverage of losses incurred during the pandemic, the PPP adhered to the initial plan of 36-point-four trillion won.

Despite the breakdown of the talks, the two parties are expected to continue behind-the-scenes discussions, as they had previously set the goal of passing the bill within the extraordinary parliamentary session in May.