Rival parties agreed to give priority to the passing of bills that cover new infectious diseases during parliament's June extra session, which begins Monday.
 
Spokespersons of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy said at a press briefing at the National Assembly Sunday that the parties' chairmen made the agreement.
 
The parties will establish a special parliamentary committee on MERS as soon as possible and pass bills such as strengthening quarantine measures against new infectious diseases and making improvements to response manuals.
 
They also agreed to provide additional support to regions where the outbreak was severe such as Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province and pledged to reflect on plans to build public hospitals for the treatment of patients infected with new infectious diseases in next year's budget.
 
Aside from the chairmen of both parties, floor leaders, policy chiefs and heads of each party's MERS committee attended Sunday's meeting.