A month-long extraordinary parliamentary session kicks off Thursday as the three major parties have agreed to bring the 19th National Assembly to a fruitful conclusion.

The agreement deserves praise, as there are many issues that cannot wait until the launch of the 20th National Assembly in early June.

During the one-month session, the three parties should work productively, given that the 19th National Assembly is widely viewed as the least productive parliament in history.

The public will closely watch how they run the session, as it will offer a preview of how they will operate parliament in the next four years.

The three parties have all pronounced their commitment to collaborative politics following the April 13 general election, as no single party controls a majority of seats in parliament.

To translate their commitments into action, the three parties need to refrain from insisting on their own positions on disputed issues and be willing to compromise to reach an agreement. They also need to show respect for the views of other parties.

Yet the three parties apparently have not discarded politics as usual. They simply reiterated their previous positions on key issues without showing willingness to make compromises. 

For instance, the ruling Saenuri Party said it would seek to enact the government bills on labor reform and economic revitalization without modifications.

But if the party sticks to its previous stance, the bills will continue to stay on the shelf as the two opposition parties oppose them in their present form.

The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea is also as intransigent as ever. The party’s floor leader said the government’s economic revitalization bills should be seen as having been rejected by voters in the general election.

This remark shows that the party’s declared commitment to collaborative politics is nothing more than lip service. As before, the floor leader insists on the party’s positions without showing a modicum of respect for the ruling party.

The floor leader of the People’s Party, who proposed to convene the extraordinary session, called for proceeding toward agreement through concessions and compromises. But he put high on his agenda contentious political issues rather than those related to people’s livelihoods.

Korean voters created the three-party system because they wanted lawmakers to make concerted efforts to improve people’s livelihoods and revitalize the economy.

To live up to the voters’ expectations, the three parties should get their priorities right for the one-month session and do their best to establish a new mode of handling legislative bills.