The National Assembly will likely pass by the end of the year a set of legislative measures aimed at advancing the parliamentary process, including a filibuster and measures to prevent violence on the floor, a ruling party leader said Friday.

Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, the GNP’s floor leader, said his party has almost reached an agreement with the main opposition Democratic Unified Party regarding the handling of the measures.

“Ruling and opposition lawmakers have almost reached an agreement regarding a revision of the National Assembly Act for the development of the parliamentary process,” he said.

The revision bill could be handled at a plenary session on Dec. 29 or 30, he added.

Measures under discussion include a filibuster, a “discharge petition” and limitation of the parliament speaker’s authority to put idle bills to a final floor vote, bypassing committee-level procedures.

A filibuster is a legal way for minority parties to obstruct legislative proceedings by extending a floor speech indefinitely to block the passage of a bill. In the U.S. Senate, the three-fifths of the Senate ― 60 senators out of the total 100 ― are needed to break the filibuster. The Korean parties agreed to adopt the same three-fifths bar.

If a bill sits on the standing committee for more than 180 days, legislators will be able to file a “discharge petition” for its immediate referral to the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee for next review. The bill will then be referred to the plenary session within 60 days.

The last measure would significantly restrict the National Assembly Speaker’s authority to put bills to a vote at his or her discretion, which has often been exercised to break a partisan stalemate over contentious bills.

Also being considered for the bill is the possibility of slapping a 10 million won ($8,700) fine and a five-year bar from elections for representatives who use violence within the National Assembly.

Parliamentary violence has become a hot topic since Rep. Kim Sun-dong of far-left minority Unified Progressive Party detonated a tear gas grenade within the parliament’s main chamber amid a chaotic vote to ratify the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement last month.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)