South Korea's rival parties agreed to pass more than 70 bills, including key bills related to the economy at a plenary session on Thursday.<br />Kim Mok-yeon reports.<br /> <br /> After weeks of intense negotiations, rival parties agreed to pass some key deregulatory bills at a parliamentary session on Thursday.<br />These included a bill revising a law so that the tenants of commercial buildings are better protected.<br /> Rival parties agreed to increase the period for guaranteeing existing tenants' contract renewal to ten years from the current five to better protect smaller businesses.<br />They also agreed to increase the protection period for tenants to claim back the premium they paid for leasing a business space, from the current three months before their contract expires to 6 months.<br />Another key bill that was passed involved easing non-financial firms' ownership cap in internet-only banks.<br /> The parties agreed to allow nonfinancial firms to hold up to a 34 percent stake in web-only banks, up from the current 4 percent ownership limit, but banned family-owned conglomerates from making such purchases.<br /> Lawmakers also voted for a combined regulatory reform bill which allows certain business districts to become regulation-free special zones in order to nurture innovative growth for strategic industries in non-metropolitan areas.<br /> Such developments came as part of bipartisan efforts to help small businesses and self-employed people suffering from the slumping economy and the government's recent minimum wage hikes. <br /><br />Kim Mok-yeon, Arirang news. <br />
