National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, center, poses with the ruling People Power Party floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, left, and opposition Democratic Party of Korea floor leader Rep. Park Chan-dae during their meeting to negotiate a special counsel probe bill into President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law imposition, at the National Assembly in Seoul, Friday. Yonhap

Despite hours of tense negotiations, the ruling and opposition parties failed to reach a compromise on a special counsel probe bill to investigate President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, according to party officials, Friday.

Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, floor leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), spoke with reporters at the National Assembly after their meeting and said, "The talks have faltered."

Rep. Park Chan-dae, his counterpart from the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) also said, "We don't plan to meet each other again today."

Kweon and Park had agreed to hold negotiations on the special probe act at 11 a.m., with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik presiding over the discussions.

The Assembly's plenary session to vote on the special probe bill was also scheduled for 2 p.m., but the PPP requested a postponement due to delays in preparing the draft.

The PPP, which has argued that the scope of the opposition's bill is excessive, has removed allegations that the president committed treason by allegedly attempting to provoke war with North Korea.

In the PPP's bill, the duration of the investigation was reduced from 150 days to 110 days, compared to the opposition parties' proposal, while the number of investigators was also cut from 155 to 58.

The ruling party initially aimed to propose an independent counsel law that all 108 lawmakers had agreed to, but only 104 were listed as four of its lawmakers refused to sign the bill.

The breakdown came despite the National Assembly speaker's pledge to narrow differences and reach an agreement between the two parties by midnight Friday.

"We will definitely conclude this consultation today and make sure that the agreement is passed," Woo said, declaring the adjournment of the plenary session scheduled for 2 p.m.

As the agreement failed, the opposition-controlled Assembly was expected to push through the DPK's bill, which the PPP had urged acting President Choi Sang-mok to veto.

But the opposition party decided to downscale the scope of the investigation and remove the clause on treason allegations in its bill, in a bid to draw support from some PPP lawmakers when it is put to vote at a plenary session.