The National Assembly is notorious for its end-of-year tug-of-war over the government's budget for the following year and failing to pass it before the deadline.

This year was no exception.

On Thursday, the National Assembly passed the government's 2016 budget bill during a plenary session and failed to meet the legal deadline by just 48 minutes.

The bill calls for increasing the government budget by 2.9 percent to 386.4 trillion won ($332 billion) next year from 375.4 trillion won this year.

It falls 300 billion won short of the amount requested by the government in September.

The Constitution obliges the parliament to pass its annual budget bill by Dec. 2 to allow 30 days of preparation for the bill's implementation.

For more than a decade before 2014, the parliament had always failed to meet the deadline for endorsing a budget bill for the new year.

Rival parties often clashed over items on the bill, sometimes leading to physical fights as well as sit-ins inside Parliament.

In 2013, the National Assembly passed the government's 2013 budget bill after the beginning of fiscal year, marking the first time in the country's history.

The parliament again approved 2014's budget bill on Jan. 1, narrowly avoiding the risk of the government formulating a tentative budget for the first time in history.

As public criticism mounted, the Assembly revised relevant parliamentary laws in 2014 to have the budget bill automatically referred to a plenary session if the parties fail to complete deliberation of the budget by Nov. 30.

With the new laws on the advancement of the National Assembly, the National Assembly passed the government's 2015 budget bill on Dec. 2, 2014, meeting the legal deadline for the first time in 12 years.

The ruling Saenuri Party and main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, however, again, failed to keep their promises this year.

President Park Geun-hye earlier met with leaders of rival parties and asked cooperation on next year's budget and a set of bills to improve people's livelihoods.

She has repeatedly asked the rival parties to make a compromise on contentious issues and pass the budget as soon as possible.

Legislators, themselves, voiced concerns and said the parliament should not be locked in bitter political wrangling.

National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa said, "All of us should have self-reflection and feel a sense of responsibility (for failing to meet the deadline)."

Chung, who invoked his power as speaker to put some contentious bills to a vote, said the parliament should stand to its promise.

"I do not understand why the two parties negotiated like this," Rep. Kang Ki-jeong of the NPAD told reporters just before the session. "The budget bill is a mess."

The Saenuri Party also said it is regrettable that the parliament had failed to meet the deadline, noting it is time to take care a set of economic bills aimed at improving the livelihoods of the people.

"Politicians should accept the fact that they should take time for self-examination in running the parliament," Kim Young-yoo, spokesman of the party, said in a press release, adding that the parliament should not repeat this year's mistake again. (Yonhap)