The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to convene an extraordinary session of the National Assembly Wednesday to attempt to pass dozens of pending major bills, including one aimed at preventing physical clashes in parliament, a ruling party lawmaker said Tuesday.

Wednesday’s session is seen as a final chance to pass about 60 pending bills through parliament before the term of the outgoing National Assembly expires on May 29. Any bills still pending at that time will be automatically scrapped.

Last week, the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) had planned a one-day extraordinary session, but the meeting was called off at the last minute due to differences over the bill aimed at preventing physical clashes in parliament.

On Tuesday, Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, floor leader of the ruling party, told a party meeting he had reached an agreement with the DUP on holding the one-day plenary session, and called for cooperation from party members for passage of the anti-clash bill.

The DUP is in support of the measure but the ruling party is divided. If the ruling party endorses the bill, it will pave the way for the passage of other important bills.

The anti-clash bill calls for limiting the parliamentary speaker’s authority to put a bill to a floor vote, as such actions often in the past resulted in brawls between rival lawmakers over the passage of controversial bills.

It also stipulates that a consensus of three-fifths of the 300-seat National Assembly, or 181 seats, will be required to demand a fast track vote and thwart filibuster by minor parties, instead of the current majority rule.

In South Korea, lawmakers are often associated with negative images due in large part to widespread public perceptions they will not compromise and are bent on partisan bickering that often involves shoving, pushing and other physical confrontation. 

(Yonhap News)