SEOUL-- The National Assembly postponed a plenary meeting set for Wednesday, hours after the ruling party railroaded a controversial media bill through a parliamentary committee despite protests from opposition parties.

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug expressed his decision to put off the plenary meeting set for the afternoon, according to Rep. Han Byung-do, spokesman of the ruling Democratic Party (DP).

The DP, controlling an absolute majority at the National Assembly, planned to push the bill that would impose a fivefold increase in penalties on media outlets that make false or fake news reports, through the plenary session.

But the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) asked for the postponement of the main session, arguing the bill could face procedural problems if it is put to a plenary vote in less than one day after it passed through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee early Wednesday morning.

Spearheaded by the DP as part of its broader vision to "reform" the media, the legislation primarily aims to curb the dissemination of misleading news by increasing media outlets' responsibility for such reports.

It, however, has evoked strong criticism from opposition parties and media industry associations as an attempt to gag media outlets critical of the government and the ruling party ahead of next year's presidential election.

Later in the day, the floor leaders of the rival parties agreed in a meeting to hold another plenary session Monday to process the media bill, as well as other pending proposals.

"We agreed to process in the plenary session on Monday all the bills and motions that were supposed to be discussed today," DP floor leader Rep. Yun Ho-jung said after a meeting with PPP counterpart Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon.

The prospect of the media bill's smooth passage remains unclear, however, as the PPP is determined to block the bill. "We have a firm stance that we have no choice other than opposing it to the end," Kim told reporters.

Source: Yonhap News Agency