The National Assembly on Tuesday postponed what was expected to be its last plenary session, after rival parties failed to narrow their differences on a bill on the legislative process.

Floor leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party agreed to defer the session, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. They did not say when it will be held.

The decision darkened prospects for nearly 60 other pending bills, such as one to permit sales of over-the-counter drugs at convenience stores and another to allow police to trace the locations of crime victims without a warrant.
The current Assembly ends its term on May 28. Bills that do not pass the legislature before then will be automatically scrapped.

“We will continue talks to bride the gap,” Kim Jin-pyo, the DUP’s floor leader, told the party’s legislators in a meeting. “In case of a breakthrough, we might have a voting session tomorrow.”

Kim and his Saenuri counterpart Hwang Woo-yea are expected to continue negotiations over the so-called Assembly advancement bill which would allow a filibuster in a bid to prevent violent clashes between rival party lawmakers. While the DUP demands no major alternation to the bill, the Saenuri wants to water it down, out of fear that the reform plan may result in a lethargic parliament.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)