And over at the National Assembly，... Korea′s two main rival parties have reached a tentative agreement over a bill to overhaul the public employee pension system... after months of partisan bickering.
Park Ji－won tells us more.
At its general meeting on Tuesday morning， the ruling Saenuri Party confirmed a tentative agreement written by the two parties′ chief pension reform policymakers.
It comes two days before the agreed deadline to pass the pension reform bill at the full assembly on May 28th.
The reform plan will save the government more than 300 billion U.S. dollars over the next 70 years.
The approved agreement，... also stipulates the creation of another assembly negotiation committee to discuss the separate national pension issue.
Earlier this month， the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy tried to link National Pension service reform to the public－servant pension discussion，...demanding a ten percent raise to national pension payouts.
The presidential office and some ruling Saenuri Party members objected to connecting the two pension reform issues，...and the reform bill failed to pass in the last session.
The committee will examine the possibility of including that ten percent payout raise.
However，... another NPAD demand may stall the passing of the public－servant pension bill.
The main liberal party is calling for the resignation of current welfare minister Moon Hyung－pyo ，...because it′s not satisfied with his handling of pension reform.
But，...the ruling Saenuri Party said it cannot accept that demand.
If the NPAD holds its ground，...the agreement may fall through...endangering the passing of the public servant pension bill on the 28th.
PARK Ji－won， Arirang News.
