Next year's budget proposal processing in limbo

[Anchor]

Today (12.9), on the seventh day of the emergency martial law situation, the National Assembly is moving without a moment's pause.

With the last regular session of the National Assembly scheduled for tomorrow (12.10), negotiations on the budget proposal are ongoing between the ruling and opposition parties and the government, but no agreement has been reached yet.

Let's go to the National Assembly.

Reporter Lee Hee-yeon! The Deputy Prime Minister for Economy visited the National Assembly Speaker to make a request, and discussions have resumed.

[Reporter]

Yes, the negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties regarding next year's budget proposal, which had been halted since the declaration of the emergency martial law on the 3rd, resumed around 4 PM today.

The policy chairs of both parties and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance participated in the negotiations, but they reportedly did not reach an agreement.

Earlier, the Democratic Party announced that it would present next year's budget proposal for processing at tomorrow's plenary session.

In today's negotiations, the Democratic Party once considered adding a further cut of 700 billion won to the previously passed 'budget cut proposal' of 4.1 trillion won, which was approved solely by the opposition in the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.

The Democratic Party's policy is to process the existing budget cut proposal at tomorrow's plenary session if they cannot reach an agreement with the ruling party until the end.

Since National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik had previously urged for an agreement between the parties and postponed the presentation of the budget proposal once, it remains to be seen whether the next year's budget proposal will be presented tomorrow.

[Anchor]

Will the proposal for a permanent special prosecutor's investigation into the emergency martial law situation be presented at tomorrow's plenary session?

[Reporter]

Yes, the proposal for a permanent special investigation into insurrection, which passed the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee today, is expected to be processed at tomorrow's plenary session.

Unlike the general special investigation law, the permanent special investigation proposal cannot be vetoed by the President.

This week, various standing committees are expected to continue inquiries related to the emergency martial law declaration.

First, tomorrow, the National Defense Committee will conduct an inquiry.

The attendees are expected to include key military figures involved in the execution of this martial law, such as Army Chief of Staff Park An-soo, Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung, Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-keun, and Capital Defense Commander Lee Jin-woo.

In particular, the committee is expected to focus on questioning the circumstances that led to the discussion of the martial law, the process of military deployment to the National Assembly and the National Election Commission, and whether there were plans to arrest key politicians at that time.

This has been a report from the National Assembly.