Gov't, rival parties fail to produce agreement on chips bill, extra budget
Authorities from the government and rival political parties pose ahead of their four-way meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. From left are main opposition Democratic Party of Korea leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung, acting President Choi Sang-mok, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and the ruling People Power Party interim leader Kwon Young-se.
The government and rival political parties failed to produce an agreement on an extra budget or a special law on semiconductors during four-way talks Thursday, officials said.
Still, the sides decided to hold further discussions at the working level after agreeing on the need for a supplementary budget, according to Park Tae-seo, a National Assembly spokesperson.
"We agreed to hold further working-level discussions on the details of an extra budget, such as the timing and size, under the three principles of supporting people's livelihoods, supporting artificial intelligence and other future industries, and supporting trade," he said.
The meeting involved acting President Choi Sang-mok, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, ruling People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Kwon Young-se and Rep. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).
The PPP and the DPK have been at odds over several issues, including pension reform, a supplementary budget and a special law that seeks to exempt semiconductor workers from South Korea's 52-hour workweek system.
Choi said in his opening remarks that there is "no time to lose" over the special semiconductor law as chip workers in major economies, such as the United States and Japan, are already dedicating themselves to developing new technologies without working hour restrictions, while the U.S. is planning to impose tariffs on chips.
The Semiconductor Special Act failed to pass last year as opposition parties disagreed with providing exemptions to the 52-hour workweek system. Currently, the country's workweek system limits employees to 40 regular hours and 12 hours of overtime per week.
"Under the current working hour system, it's difficult to do concentrated work, leading to interruptions in research and making it difficult to respond immediately to companies' orders," Choi said. "This is why enacting the Semiconductor Special Act is absolutely necessary."
Park, the spokesperson, later said the sides held "in-depth discussions" on the chip bill and agreed to hold further talks at the working level.
On pension reform, the rival parties have agreed on the need to raise the premium rate from 9 percent to 13 percent but remain divided on the income replacement rate, or pension as a percentage of a subscriber's average income over their lifetime.
"We decided to hold further discussions on pension reform at working-level talks," Park said. (Yonhap)