National Assembly on track to normalization

여야, 특위 연장 '합의'...국회 정상화 수순

South Korea's National Assembly is getting back to work after a political showdown essentially shut it down for 80 days.
The parties held a plenary session today, voting on some important procedural matters.
And the main opposition Liberty Korea Party has ended its boycott.
Kim Min-ji has the latest.
It was a full house at the National Assembly's plenary session on Friday as rival parties voted to extend the terms of the special parliamentary committees that expire at the end of this month.
The committees one on political reform and the other on judicial reform... which will deliberate the key reform bills on fast-track will be operational until August 31st.
This was made possible after a deal was reached between the three main parties earlier in the day.
Although the parties said that it's not completely back to normal,.... the National Assembly is at least back to work following over 80 days of inaction.
The prolonged impasse was triggered after the ruling Democratic Party and minor opposition bloc put key reform bills on fast-track,... despite strong resistance from the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.
Under the deal,... the ruling and main opposition party will chair one committee each while the number of members from each party will be determined based on how many parliamentary seats they have.
"The people may think that we are very late,... but I think it's fortunate that we can start things over. I believe it's an important step, and the first step towards reaching a bigger deal."

It took a lot to get this far rival parties had reached an agreement earlier this week,... which the Liberty Korea Party pulled out of... after failing to get an endorsement from all its lawmakers.
The main opposition party says it will now participate in the standing committee meetings,... although it said more negotiations are needed for other legislative agendas.
"We've taken a first step to solving the fast-track fiasco. Although not completely operational,... we have decided to return to parliament. We have a lot to do in the June parliamentary session. We will take care of people's livelihoods by participating in parliamentary meetings."
While the deal was generally welcomed by the minor parties,... it was met with fierce criticism from the minor progressive Justice Party,... which had headed the committee on political reform.
They said the agreement was no more that a replacement of their lawmaker,... and handing a position over to the conservatives,... which it claimed has no interest in reform.
While parliament is running again for now,... there are concerns there could be more tugs of war in store,... especially when lawmakers start deliberations of the government's extra budget bill,... as well as other pending bills related to people's livelihoods and economic revitalization.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.