Posted December. 30, 2009 00:49,
Seven civic groups held Monday a joint presentation and seminar to urge the National Assembly to pass the national budget bill at the Seoul Press Center.
The groups included Citizens United for a Better Society, Lawyers for the People, and the Center for Free Enterprise
They demanded immediate approval of the bill, saying in a statement, We need to set up a new provision to penalize any delay in the budgets approval.
Yun Chang-hyeon, secretary-general of the citizens group, said, If the National Assembly fails to pass the budget by a certain deadline, it should be considered as failing to properly do its job and be penalized by cutting the parliamentary budget or subsidies to parties under a new provision."