A parliamentary committee dominated by the main opposition Democratic Party(DP) has directly tabled a controversial grain bill, which would require the government to purchase surplus rice, to a plenary parliamentary session. 

The parliamentary committee on agriculture, food, rural affairs, oceans and fisheries held a plenary session on Thursday and passed a motion to table the bill to the plenary session.

Out of 19 committee members, eleven DP lawmakers and independent lawmaker Youn Mee-hyang voted for the motion. 

The bill was put to the parliamentary judiciary committee in February after a similar bill was vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol in April last year. 

The revised bill, a toned-down version of the scrapped bill, requires government measures such as purchasing surplus rice or releasing government stocks if rice prices fall or rise sharply.