Rival political parties agreed Tuesday to convene an extra parliamentary session next month to handle pending bills, including one aimed at rooting out corruption among public officials.
The special session will run from Feb. 2 to Mar. 3 and include interpellation sessions from Feb. 10-13 and two plenary sessions on Feb. 26 and Mar. 3.
The agreement was reached during a weekly meeting between the floor leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.
The upcoming session’s top priority is expected to be a bill that calls for punishing public officials who are caught taking money or valuables worth more than 1 million won ($922) even if they were not in exchange for favors.
The bill is intended to tighten loopholes in existing anti-corruption rules that punish public officials only when they receive bribes in connection with their work.
Critics have argued that the bill could make civil servants reluctant to perform their duties due to the fear of punishment. (Yonhap)
