South Korea: Rival parties struggle to reach agreement on special counsel bill to probe Yoon's insurrection charges

Seoul, Jan 17 South Korean ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Friday discussed their respective bills on launching a special counsel probe into impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, but little progress was made in reaching a compromise.

PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong and his DP counterpart, Park Chan-dae, attended the meeting, presided over by National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik.

All eyes were on whether the two rival parties can narrow their differences and agree on a single bill before the parliamentary plenary session concludes.

"As of now, negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties fell through," Park told reporters at 8:30 p.m., adding both sides have no plans to meet again on Friday.

Park said the party plans to vote for the bill despite little progress in negotiations, hinting that the DP would unilaterally put up an opposition-proposed bill for a vote, Yonhap news agency reported.

PPP floor leader Kweon also said talks have fallen through due to a difference in their positions.

"From our side, we made a bill that only includes essential details, to the extent that we could compromise, rather than a bill that bargains back and forth," he said, criticising the opposition over its approach to the talks.

Opposition parties have been seeking to pass a revised special counsel bill that includes allegations Yoon committed 'treason' by attempting to deliberately provoke war with North Korea.

The PPP has argued that the scope of the bill is excessive and decided to introduce its own bill that excludes such allegations.

If the two parties reach an agreement during the meeting, their new bill is expected to pass the plenary session. If they fail to narrow their differences, the opposition-proposed bill will likely pass the National Assembly as the opposition bloc currently dominates the 300-member parliament with 192 seats.