Parliament to settle budget on Dec. 12: ruling party speaker

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- Rival parties agreed Monday to pass next year's spending plan by the end of this week amid fierce objections from a progressive minority party.

Rival parties have been striving to resolve their differences and promptly settle
the 2009 government budget, which was legally required to pass through parliament
by Dec. 2.
The plan that calls for an increase in fiscal spending of over 10 percent to 283
trillion won (US$195 billion) includes sizable tax cuts and assumes economic
growth of 4 percent -- points that populist politicians wanted to change.
"We failed to officially sign the agreement, but will go with the initial plan
and pass the budget" on Dec. 12, ruling Grand National Party speaker Hong
Joon-pyo told reporters after a meeting with his counterparts failed to open due
to a disturbance caused by minority party lawmakers.
The National Assembly, initially set to adjourn this week, will be called into an
extraordinary session until the end of the month to handle the budget and other
pending bills, Hong added.
About 20 members of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) had charged into the meeting
room and blocked discussions between negotiating party leaders earlier Monday,
demanding more measures for non-permanent workers and other low-income people.
Progressive parties, including the DLP, accuse President Lee Myung-bak and his
conservative party of orchestrating economic plans mainly to support the
privileged, further widening the economic gap.