Rival political parties agreed Thursday to immediately begin discussions on a government proposal to raise cigarette prices amid a parliamentary impasse over free child care services for young children.
   
The agreement came during a lunch meeting between the senior deputy floor leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), one day after NPAD declared a boycott of all parliamentary proceedings in protest of stalled bipartisan negotiations on the child care program.
  

"The (bill on) tobacco taxes has been designated as an auxiliary budget bill, so we agreed that the rival parties should immediately hold discussions on the bill at the home affairs committee," Rep. Kim Jae-won, the ruling party's senior deputy floor leader, told reporters after the meeting.
   
By law, an auxiliary budget bill can be passed by the same Dec.
2 deadline as the budget bill even without an agreement between the rival parties.
  
"We agreed to immediately open the legislative subcommittee of the home affairs committee, considering the urgency of the tobacco taxes (bill)," Rep. Ahn Gyu-baek, NPAD's senior deputy floor leader, said.
  
In September, the government announced a plan to raise the price of cigarettes by 2,000 won (US$1.82) per pack from the current average price of 2,500 won to help reduce the country's high smoking rate starting next year.
   
Critics have argued that the plan will only increase the financial burden on low-income people.
   
On the free child care program for children aged three to five, Kim and Ahn said they agreed to hold further discussions to decide how to split the cost between the central government and local education offices.
   
The opposition party has demanded the central government finance all 523 billion won needed to expand the project next year, while the ruling party has insisted on an amount between 200 billion won and 500 billion won.
  
National Assembly speaker Chung Ui-hwa vowed to pass the budget bill on Dec. 2 regardless of whether the rival parties are able to settle their differences by the legal deadline.
   
"Starting this year, we must establish a tradition of passing the budget bill on Dec. 2," he said in a meeting with rival party lawmakers on the budget and accounts committee.
   
The Assembly is notorious for its end-of-year tug-of-war over the government's budget for the following year. The government narrowly avoided drawing up a tentative budget this year as the parliament approved the budget bill on Jan. 1.
  

Earlier in the day, a senior NPAD official indicated that the party could propose a meeting with President Park Geun-hye if the rival parties fail to resolve the budget row.
  
"If we can't resolve it within the parliament, the next stage will be a meeting between the two parties' leaders, and if that doesn't work, there's no choice but to resolve it through a meeting with the president," the official told Yonhap News Agency by phone.
   
The meeting with Park could be proposed within the next one or two days, the official added.
  
"We do not want a breakdown," Moon Hee-sang, NPAD's interim chief, said during a party meeting. "We want dialogue and compromise."
  
Saenuri chief Kim Moo-sung urged the opposition party to normalize the parliament.
  
"Now isn't the time to stand out or engage in combative competition, political disputes and partisan politics, but a time to focus only on the public's livelihoods and the economy," he said during a ruling party meeting. (Yonhap)