Rival parties continue talks to normalize parliament

Over at the National Assembly, rival parties had until 2PM today to try and reach some sort of a compromise to finally get things moving again.
The deadline has passed, but the deputy floor leaders of the major parties continued talks throughout the day to narrow out their differences... and now a meeting between the floor leaders is underway.
Kim Min-ji has the latest from parliament.
After a morning meeting between the floor leaders of the country's four negotiating parties bore no fruit,... the baton was tossed to the deputy whips to carry on the talks in hopes of reaching a compromise.
The National Assembly Speaker had given rival parties until 2 PM Tuesday to strike a deal to normalize parliament -- however, the deadline came and went
with parties saying they will continue negotiations throughout the day.

The biggest area of contention is the introduction of a bill aimed at launching an independent counsel probe into an online opinion-rigging scandal... allegedly involving a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
A blogger -- with the username "Druking" -- is known to have used a computer program to manipulate the number of "likes" for comments critical of the Moon Jae-in administration.
There are also suspicions that the blogger may have been engaged in rigging activities in the run up to last year's presidential elections.
The blogger is known to have ties with ruling party lawmaker Kim Kyung-soo -- with opposition parties questioning whether Kim was aware of the manipulation scheme.

The ruling party has said that it would accept the probe... but on the condition that opposition parties simultaneously vote on the government's extra budget bill.
It also wants the right to veto the independent counsel recommended by the opposition.
The opposition bloc, however, says the ruling party needs to accept the probe -- no strings attached.

For now, it seems unclear when or how rival parties can put an end to the month-long standstill.
Partisan wrangling intensified over the weekend... after a man punched the floor leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party in the face while he was on a hunger strike over the opinion-rigging scandal.
Although the exact reason for the assault is unclear,... the suspect is known to have been critical of the conservative party.

But there's also hope that some sort of last-minute deal could come along... with pressure mounting on parliament for having gotten no work done since April.
On top of that, there are lawmakers resigning to run in next month's local elections.
The Assembly needs to process their resignations by next Monday... so that by-elections can be held in the vacant districts.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.