Major parties continued wrangling over the allocation of the chief posts of standing committees on Monday, further delaying the proceedings of the National Assembly.

The ruling Saenuri Party suggested that the main opposition Democratic Party chair one of the two parliamentary committees related to national security, in an attempt to hold on to other key panels.

“We are willing to hand over to the opposition the chairmanship for the foreign affairs committee or the national defense committee,” said the party’s vice floor leader Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon on Monday.

The conservative party’s offer to give up one of the two influential panels came amid efforts to maintain its dominance of the parliamentary state affairs committee, the culture committee and the land committee.

The DUP, however, refused the Saenuri’s offer as the three committees are expected to be crucial during the new parliamentary term, especially in the run-up to the presidential election in December.

The corresponding panels are involved in addressing the savings banks corruption scandal, the media strike and the four-river project respectively― all of which may act against the incumbent Lee Myung-bak administration and the ruling party.

“I will allocate the best players to the culture committee to reform the prosecution and the media,” said the DUP’s interim leader Rep. Park Jie-won last month.

The two parties also quarreled over the legislation and judiciary committee, which has traditionally been chaired by the opposition as a means to prevent the ruling party from passing bills at its discretion.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)