By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Taxpayers are expected to pay more for gas and electricity after the major parties failed to reach an agreement on a government-proposed $4 billion supplementary budget bill.
The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) Thursday flexed its muscles in an attempt to railroad the bill, which the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) opposed.
The move, however, failed as the GNP didn't meet the quorum in the National Assembly's Budget and Account Committee.
Taxpayers, particularly working-class families, will be the hardest hit as they will be required to pay more utility bills.
The National Assembly is expected to be in deadlock for the time being as the GNP's attempt angered opposition parties.
Under the proposal, the government planned to provide 1.6 trillion and 840 billion won in subsidies to the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and Korea Gas Corporation (KGC) respectively, to help them reduce operating losses linked to soaring oil prices.
They have not raised utility bills this year to help cushion the hardship households have encountered.
Finance Minister Kang Man-soo said electricity and gas prices will rise by 2.75 to 3.4 percentage points unless the subsidies are provided in addition to the planned hikes of 7.8 percent and 5 percent after Chuseok.
The real hike rate will be 11.1 percent for electricity bills and 7.75 percent for gas bills.
DP Chairman Rep. Chung Sye-kyun urged ruling party leaders to apologize for their unilateral move, which he described as the ``tyranny of the majority.'' He said the supplementary budget bill must be reviewed from scratch.
DP Spokeswoman Kim Yoo-jung said the GNP challenged the parliamentary system with the move.
The Minor Democratic Labor Party also urged GNP leaders to apologize for destabilizing the parliamentary system.
The GNP suffered an additional blow in its failure, forcing its floor leader Hong Joon-pyo to offer his resignation, although not immediately.
Hong did so Friday to take responsibility.
The governing party sought to pass the bill through bipartisan consensus before the holiday so as to help President Lee Myung-bak focus on moving forward with his reform drive.