Leaders of the nation’s main political parties on Monday agreed to work out disagreements over the special Sewol bill amid the growing public criticism of the protracted parliamentary deadlock.

Rep. Moon Hee-sang, interim chief of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, met with his counterpart Rep. Kim Moo-sung, chair of the ruling Saenuri Party, on Monday afternoon.

It was the first time that Moon, who took the helm of the opposition party last week, held a talk with the chief of the ruling party. Moon replaced Rep. Park Young-sun after she stirred up internal turmoil by attempting to appoint a moderate conservative as a party cochair.

Moon and Kim discussed key issues, particularly concerning the normalization of the National Assembly that has long been paralyzed due to the conflicts over the special bill designed to investigate the ferry disaster in April.

But a breakthrough appears unlikely until later this week at the earliest, National Assembly officials said.

The nation’s two major parties have been locking horns over the special Sewol bill since July. Failed talks over the draft law led the main opposition party to boycott parliamentary affairs last month. NPAD officials have put off legislative work to protest the ruling party’s stance on the bill.

The gridlock has left 7,000 draft bills hanging and annual parliamentary audits of the government scheduled for August postponed to October, triggering public criticism.

Despite Monday’s meeting, a wider consensus between other senior officials of the rival parties will be needed, Moon and Kim said in a joint meeting, suggesting that floor leaders of the two parties would undertake the negotiations.

But a swift end to the political impasse appears unlikely, as the floor leaders have no plans to meet yet.

Other sources agreed with the outlook.

“No formal deal over the special bill or the deadlock can be reached without a deal between the floor leaders of both parties,” a senior aide to Kim said on Monday before the chiefs’ meeting. “Without an agreement between the floor leaders, party chiefs have a limit to what they can agree on.”

As of Monday, there were no plans for NPAD floor leader Rep. Park Young-sun and Saenuri floor leader Rep. Lee Wan-koo to meet, according to a source close to Park.

National Assembly speaker Rep. Chung Eui-hwa has been separately attempting to end the deadlock. Chung last week scheduled a plenary session for this Friday in order to pressure the NPAD to end its boycott, saying “everything has its limits.”

It remains unclear whether the NPAD would end its boycott in time for Friday’s plenary session without a deal over the special Sewol bill. NPAD spokesperson Rep. Park Beom-kye said he did not know of any plan for the NPAD to attend Friday’s session.

Other parliamentary officials were more optimistic.

“At this point anything is possible,” National Assembly spokesperson Choi Hyung-du said.

“We will see what happens in the next two or three days. I think there is still time for some kind of compromise that will allow opposition lawmakers to come to Friday’s session.”

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)