National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun on Wednesday exhorted rival parties to pass the government's 2018 spending plans by the deadline this week, as they dug in their heels on many sticking points, such as proposed outlays for job creation.

Ahead of Saturday's deadline, the ruling and opposition parties engaged in grueling negotiations over a raft of disputed budget proposals, many of which are key to funding President Moon Jae-in's priority policies to spur growth and enhance public welfare.

"I call on the leaders of the parliamentary negotiating blocs and other lawmakers to work together to ensure that we will be able to handle the budget proposals by the Dec. 2 deadline," Chung said during a meeting with the floor leaders and policy chiefs of three major parties.

Touching on the controversy over his designation Tuesday of subordinate bills for the 429 trillion-won ($393 billion) budget proposals, Chung said that the designation came after his "painstaking and balanced" deliberations.

Out of the 45 subordinate bills that the government and rival parties had proposed, Chung selected 25, including a disputed tax reform bill aimed at increasing tax rates for top-earning individuals and firms.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party has opposed any tax increase, saying it goes against the "global trends" and would undercut Korean companies' competitiveness.

A major bone of contention now is the proposal to create 12,221 new public-service jobs with a budget of 534.9 billion won. The minor opposition People's Party vehemently opposes it, warning the plan would impose an undue burden on future generations.

The passage of the spending bill requires cooperation from the People's Party as the ruling Democratic Party has only 121 parliamentary seats, far short of a majority in the 299-member legislature. 

In a related development, the ruling party and the People's Party agreed to have a KTX bullet train pass Muan International Airport en route to Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, under an envisioned high-speed railway project to link Seoul and major cities in the southwestern Honam region. They agreed to reflect the agreement in next year's budget proposals.

The People's Party has pushed for such a train route in line with growing demands from the Honam region, its support base.

The agreement raised hopes for two-way cooperation in accelerating the budgetary negotiations at parliament. 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, who doubles as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, visited the parliament to appeal for cooperation on the passage of the budget proposals.

Kim met with Hong Joon-pyo and Yoo Seong-min, the leaders of the LKP and Bareun Party, respectively, and stressed that the budget plans are necessary to improve people's livelihoods.

Last Monday, he visited Ahn Cheol-soo, the leader of the People's Party, Assembly Speaker Chung, and Chung Woo-taik, the LKP floor leader, to seek their cooperation. (Yonhap)