Sunday, December second, was the deadline for South Korea's National Assembly to vote on the government's budget for 2019.<br />Rival party lawmakers spent the whole weekend deliberating, but they're still far from done.<br />It looks like a vote will have to wait until some time in the coming week.<br />Kim Min-ji reports. <br />Marathon deliberations are underway at the National Assembly as rival parties seek a compromise on the budget for next year.<br />The spending plan is being reviewed by just the representatives of the three main parties on the budget committee,... after the committee as a whole failed to finish its deliberations before November 30th,... as stipulated by the National Assembly Act.<br />The legal deadline for voting on the budget is December second.<br /><br />With that deadline all but missed, the ruling Democratic Party is aiming to have the bill ready for a vote by Monday,... while the two biggest opposition parties are demanding that they have until Friday.<br />Monday looks tough, though,... given that the rival parties are still far apart on some areas.<br />The likely scenario is that once the budget committee representatives are done,... the proposal will be tossed to the floor leaders and party policy chiefs.<br /><br />"The floor leaders and policy chiefs will likely handle the contentious areas as well as tax-related issues overall."<br /><br />Some of the issues being debated include... spending on job creation in the public sector and inter-Korean projects,... as well as an expected shortfall in tax revenue.<br /><br />"We've made significant progress, but there's been more of a standstill on issues like job creation and inter-Korean projects. We'll probably have to work into the wee hours."<br /><br />For now, the vote appears on track for sometime between the dates the rival parties have each specified,... but with public criticism of the delay, they're under pressure.<br />Last year, the budget was passed four days after the legal deadline.<br />Kim Min-ji, Arirang News. <br />
