The main opposition Democratic Party(DP), which has retained a majority in the 22nd National Assembly, could possibly push ahead with the unilateral allocation of all 18 standing committee chairmanship seats after rival parties failed to reach agreements by Friday's deadline.

A last-ditch negotiation attempt earlier on Friday between the floor leaders of the ruling People Power Party(PPP) and the DP, also attended by Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, fell through amid the PPP's refusal to attend. The PPP had also refused to submit its list of standing committee members by 12 a.m. Friday, as was previously requested by the speaker.

The PPP is demanding that it retain chairmanship of seven committees from the 21st Assembly, including those for the legislation and judiciary committee, the house steering committee, and the science, ICT, broadcasting and communications committee.

The DP, unwilling to give up on the chairmanship of the three key committees, has declared its intention to unilaterally handle a related bill during a plenary session on Monday.

The ruling party is expected to convene a general meeting of its representatives on Monday to decide whether to resume negotiations between the floor leaders.