Rival parties agreed Monday to convene a month-long extraordinary parliamentary session starting next month to handle pending issues, including the reform of the pension system for public officials, floor leaders said.
The agreement was reached during a weekly meeting between the floor leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy.
The special session, under the agreement, will run from April 7 to May 6 and will likely involve scaling back the money-losing pension system for government employees, among other issues, they said.
The government and ruling party have been trying to redesign the exclusive pension program, which has incurred huge losses due to its overly generous terms compared with the national pension scheme to which other taxpayers subscribe. Unionized government employees have vehemently opposed any changes to their exclusive pension program.
The Saenuri Party has demanded that the government-proposed pension reform bill pass the main floor session scheduled for May 6, which the NPAD reportedly resisted, saying that politicians should have more time to collect public opinions on the bill.
During the upcoming session, lawmakers are also expected to discuss the NPAD’s recent proposal to create a special parliamentary committee on constitutional reform.
The session will include floor leaders’ speeches on April 8-9, interpellation sessions from April 13 to 16 and three main sessions on April 23, April 30 and May 6, according to the floor leaders. (Yonhap)
