The ruling and opposition parties agreed to begin a month-long parliamentary session this week to deal with pending bills, an opposition lawmaker said Monday.
Joo Seung-yong, floor leader of the minor opposition People's Party, said the three parties plan to hold plenary parliamentary sessions twice during the extraordinary session of the National Assembly that is set to run from Thursday through May 20.
He said the agreement was reached during his talks with his counterparts from the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Minjoo Party
Joo said the three parties also agreed to hold working-level talks on a number of bills that they want to pass through the National Assembly.
The move came days after the ruling Saenuri Party suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections in an apparent public backlash against the party's factional infighting.
The ruling party won 122 out of 300 seats while the Minjoo Party and the People's Party secured 123 and 38 seats, respectively. Seventeen other seats are held by another minor party members and independents.
The People's Party emerged as a clear winner in the elections as its seats in the new parliament jumped nearly twice from 20 seats in the outgoing legislature.
The elections results gave a boost to former and current leaders of the opposition parties. The Minjoo Party’s former leader Moon Jae-in received 24.7 percent, up 4.6 percentage points from a week earlier, according to a new poll.
The poll released by local pollster Realmeter showed 18.9 percent of people supported Ahn Cheol-soo, a co-leader of the opposition People's Party, up 4.7 percentage points from a week earlier.
Former Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon and Kim Moo-sung, former head of the ruling Saenuri Party, received 10.1 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, President Park Geun-hye's job approval rating plunged to 31.5 percent -- the lowest tallied by the pollster since she took office three years ago -- down 8.1 percentage points from a week earlier, according to the latest findings.
Those who disapproved of Park's job performance came to 62.3 percent, up 7.8 percentage points from a week earlier. (Yonhap)