ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SETS PLENARY SESSION

[Anchor Lead]

National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo said he wil convene a plenarty session on Friday to pass next year's budget bill. Issuing a notice of the parliamentary meeting via the National Assembly Secretariat, his move is seen as an ultimatum as there are concerns that the budget bill won't be passed until next year.

[Pkg]

Nineteen days have passed since the legal deadline for parliament to approve a 2023 budget proposal. However, the rival parties are still engulfed in a political clash.

[Soundbite] Joo Ho-young(Floor Leader, People Power Party) : "We cannot present it without the government's consent. So we have to discuss the budget plan with the government."

[Soundbite] Park Hong-keun(Floor Leader, Democratic Party) : "What can we do when they are waiting for the president to make a decision?"

National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo gave up his efforts to mediate the budget dispute and presented an ultimatum, saying that he will convene a plenary session at 2 p.m. on Friday. He even issued a notice of the parliamentary meeting via the National Assembly Secretariat. The assembly speaker said that if the rival parties reach an agreement, he will have the deal passed. If they don't, he will have either the government proposal or the Democratic Party's revision approved. The ruling and opposition camps have reportedly narrowed big differences over a cut in corporate tax and budgets for the justice department's personnel information management team and the interior ministry's police bureau. However, the government has not yet given consent to conclude the negotiations, leading the parliamentary speaker to make the tough move. It seems Kim is mounting pressure on the presidential office to agree to the negotiated budget deal. An official at the assembly speaker's office said he is determined to have the budget proposal approved by this weekend. Some politicians are expecting that Kim's ultimatum could serve to break through the deadlocked budget talks. But there are also concerns that the conflict between the rival parties will intensify if they ultimately fail to find common ground and the parliamentary speaker pushed to handle the budget proposal at his discretion.