Ruling Party and Opposition Fail to Reach Conclusion on Press Arbitration Act... Agree to Renegotiate Tomorrow (Comprehensive)

No Agreement Reached Despite Four In-House Leader Meetings
Song Young-gil and Lee Jun-seok TV Debate Also Canceled
Renegotiation Scheduled for Morning of 31st

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Jeon Jinyoung, Park Juni] The Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party ultimately failed to narrow their differences over the passage of the amended Media Arbitration Act. The plenary session scheduled for the 30th was postponed due to the failure of negotiations between the floor leaders of both parties, and the 100-minute TV debate between Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil and People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok, scheduled for that afternoon, was also canceled.

Yoon Ho-jung, floor leader of the Democratic Party, told reporters after a floor leaders' meeting that afternoon, "The ruling and opposition parties failed to reach an agreement at this meeting as well. Accordingly, it will be difficult to hold the plenary session scheduled for today."

Floor leader Yoon said, "At the last meeting, both parties presented new proposals, so they decided to return to their respective parties to gather internal opinions and meet again at 10 a.m. on the 31st to continue negotiations."

Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, said, "We exchanged many opinions regarding the new proposals, but no final agreement was reached," adding, "To operate the National Assembly smoothly, the opposition party will also collect opinions on the new proposals and meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow to find a resolution."

The floor leaders of both parties held a total of four rounds of negotiations at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., and 4 p.m. again, presided over by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok. During the negotiations, the Democratic Party proposed a revised bill to the People Power Party that deleted the clause presuming intentional or gross negligence in punitive damages for media reports, but the People Power Party decided at a party meeting not to accept this.

On the same day, Leader Lee opposed the Democratic Party’s plan to submit the Media Arbitration Act to the plenary session and refused to participate in the TV debate with Leader Song scheduled for 10:30 p.m. Democratic Party spokesperson Lee So-young said, "The TV debate between the two party leaders was a promise made not between the parties but to the public and viewers," and criticized, "It is very regrettable that the promise to viewers and the public was unilaterally broken by linking it to the bill’s submission and refusing to participate."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.