Rival political parties on Wednesday made partial compromises on contentious draft bills and alleged political scandals, leaving room for partisan wrangling in the coming parliamentary session.

The governing Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy will create two panels by year-end. One will continue talks on proposed civil servant pension reforms. The other will probe former President Lee Myung-bak over alleged graft in public energy investments abroad during his term.

Parties will also set up a third committee to discuss civil servant pension reforms. The council will include members of the Korean Government Employees’ Union, but will be limited to “discussing” the reforms.

They also agreed to kick off additional probes into the defense industry, if investigations by prosecutors into recent influence peddling scandals were “unsatisfactory.” Lawmakers also agreed to pass “as many economic bills as possible” that aim to revitalize the real estate market at a plenary session on Dec. 29.

The lawmakers appear to have worded the agreements in unclear wordings, to solidify small agreements, analysts said.

Spokesmen from both parties told reporters that they were still in disagreement on the recent Chung Yoon-hoi scandal. The NPAD wants to proceed with parliamentary probes, while the Saenuri Party is suggesting the parliament wait until prosecutors finish ongoing investigations.

Chung is President Park Geun-hye’s former top aide. He was accused late last month of interfering in top government personnel decisions, using his connections to aides at the presidential office.

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)