The National Assembly passed a bill authorizing tax refunds to millions of taxpayers and two resolutions criticizing Japan’s lack of contrition for its World War II atrocities, among other bills, at Tuesday’s plenary session in Seoul’s legislature.

But ongoing disagreements over proposed changes to the civil service pension reforms between the main parties left the amendments and scores of draft bills pending, continuing a weeks-long partisan impasse.

“The National Assembly has gathered today to complete unfinished homework,” the legislature’s Deputy Speaker Rep. Lee Seok-hyun said. “I hope that the bills we pass today will give some hope to the citizens struggling to make ends meet.”

Lawmakers passed a bill allowing tax refunds of over 450 billion won ($411 million) for over 6 million taxpayers. The bill aimed to address the public uproar sparked in January over tax revisions made last year that left taxpayers with lower refunds and extra taxes for some.

Taxpayers on average will receive a refund of about 71,000 won through their paycheck this month.

Two more bills were also passed, with one aiming to strengthen protection for tenants from deposit theft and the other authorizing the issuance of over 1 trillion won in local government bonds to fund public education programs for toddlers aged 3-5.

Lawmakers also unanimously passed a resolution criticizing Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for omitting a clear apology, in his visit to the U.S. last month, to sex slaves for the Japanese military in World War II, euphemistically called comfort women. Many were Korean and Chinese.

“The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea strongly condemns Japanese Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe for avoiding an apology on the comfort women issue by making sly statements attempting to downplay the war and Imperial Japan’s anti-human rights stance.”

Another resolution that passed on Tuesday criticized Japan’s efforts to register 23 industrial sites dating to the mid-19th century, as some of the complexes employed forced Korean laborers during World War II. Japanese officials have accused Seoul of “politicizing” the issue.

But parties left close to 60 draft bills pending due to ongoing partisan disagreements over proposed reforms to the civil service pension, a state-funded retirement program for ex-government officials. 

President Park Geun-hye and the ruling Saenuri Party support reforms aiming to put a cap on the pension, which has been charged with increasing the national debt. Reform backers say it is responsible for 524 trillion won of the public debt, measured at more than 1 quadrillion won.

“The pension reform leaves me with sighs,” Park said at a Cabinet meeting later in the day, in thinly veiled criticism against the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy’s objection to her proposal.

The NPAD agrees the pension is in need of change. But the main opposition party demands that the reforms coincide with reforms increasing annuities from the national pension, a government-funded retirement benefit system for most taxpayers nationwide.

The NPAD has vowed to keep an array of bills from final voting, unless the Saenuri Party agrees to its demands.

NPAD Rep. Lee Sang-min is the chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the last parliamentary panel that reviews bills before a plenary vote. Lee holds the right to keep bills from going to a plenary session.

The NPAD demanded that the Saenuri Party agree to increase the national pension’s income replacement rate to 50 percent from the current 40. The replacement rate is a coefficient multiplied to a pensioner’s average lifetime monthly income.

The Saenuri Party opposes fixing the pension to a specific number.

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)