Sunday, December second, was the deadline for South Korea's National Assembly to vote on the government's budget for 2019.
Rival party lawmakers spent the whole weekend deliberating, but they're still far from done.
It looks like a vote will have to wait until some time in the coming week.
Kim Min-ji reports.
Marathon deliberations are underway at the National Assembly as rival parties seek a compromise on the budget for next year.
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.
The legal deadline for voting on the budget is December second.

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.
Monday looks tough, though,... given that the rival parties are still far apart on some areas.
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.

"The floor leaders and policy chiefs will likely handle the contentious areas as well as tax-related issues overall."

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.

"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."

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.
Last year, the budget was passed four days after the legal deadline.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.