South Korea's three major political parties agreed Friday to put the government's extra budget plan to a vote on Aug. 22 amid President Park Geun-hye's push to pass it as swiftly as possible to help reinvigorate the economy.

The agreement was reached at a meeting that National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun hosted with the floor leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party, the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea and the minor opposition People's Party.

The ruling and opposition parties also agreed to open a 15-day extraordinary parliamentary session from Tuesday next week, so as to deliberate on the extra budget proposal and other outstanding legislative issues. 

Late last month, the government submitted its extra budget plan, worth 11 trillion won ($9.6 billion), which it says is crucial to handle the potential fallout from the ongoing restructuring of major industries, create jobs and spur growth.

Saenuri floor leader Chung Jin-suk, MPK floor chief Woo Sang-ho and People's Party's Park Jie-won also agreed to hold parliamentary hearings from Aug. 23-25 to look into the causes of the financial woes facing the shipbuilding and shipping industries. 

The hearings will cover a controversial closed-door meeting held last year at the presidential office in which some financial policymakers and a top banker allegedly decided to inject massive amounts of taxpayers' money into the financially troubled Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. despite allegations of accounting fraud by the shipbuilder.

Opposition parties had long called for a parliamentary probe into the meeting, though the participants have denied allegations of wrongdoing regarding the funding scheme for the shipbuilder.

The floor leaders also agreed to discuss the issue of reforming the prosecution at the parliamentary committee on legislation. The prosecution has recently been under intense public criticism for a corruption scandal involving a dismissed prosecutor, who has been indicted on charges of suspicious stock transactions and bribery allegations.

The ruling party touted the agreement as a result of the parties' efforts to pursue "cooperative politics."

"Such cooperative spirits (among parties) should continue on," Saenuri spokeswoman Kim Hyun-a told reporters.

The MPK said in a statement that the decision to vote on the extra budget plan was intended to keep the promise with citizens to focus on enhancing their livelihoods. The People's Party, meanwhile, said that it would focus on the planned hearings. (Yonhap)