South Korea’s main opposition party ended its boycott of the national legislature on Tuesday, breaking the months-long parliamentary deadlock that had sparked fierce public criticism for leaving regular legislative duties pending.

The New Politics Alliance for Democracy has been sitting out all sessions of the National Assembly since August in protest of the governing Saenuri Party’s stance on the special Sewol bill.

With the compromise deal over the bill between floor leaders of the NPAD and the ruling party on Tuesday, the NPAD returned to the legislature later in the day.

But experts do not expect smooth sailing.

Tuesday’s compromise deal over the special bill requires further hand-shaking between the country’s main parties in order to be finalized.

NPAD spokesman Rep. Park Beom-kye said the deal was not the end of talks over the special bill, but only the beginning.

“I’d like to state unequivocally that today’s agreements are not the end, but the start of discussions over the special Sewol bill.”

The special bill proposes setting up a probe into allegations that the government botched rescue efforts during the sinking of the ferry Sewol in April, failing to save some of the 304 killed or missing from the disaster. Most of those killed were teenagers from Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.

The main political parties have had a tug-of-war over the bill since July. The latest agreements were seen as a defeat to the opposition, as the NPAD has been suffering from public fury over its boycott that critics blamed for the recent political impasse.

Tuesday’s agreements stipulate the main parties will appoint four prosecutors as candidates to lead the probe. An appointing committee will select two final candidates, while President Park Geun-hye will ultimately choose the lead investigator from the final pool of nominees. Families of those killed in the accident could have some say in choosing members of the appointing committee.

“The lead prosecutor of the special prosecution will be an individual with neutral political leanings,” the accords read.

Experts said the unclear wording leaves room for lawmakers to bicker over a particular lead prosecutor candidate’s credentials, suggesting further wars of words could delay the investigation and other parliamentary affairs.

Families of the 249 Danwon High School students killed in the accident also opposed the deal, saying the lead prosecutor would likely be heavily influenced by senior government officials as the president and the ruling party had much say in selecting the investigator.

But analysts predicted the upcoming parliamentary audits of the government would proceed as planned, even if the NPAD and the Saenuri Party lock horns over choosing the lead investigator.

South Korea’s unicameral legislature annually audits the executive branch of the government. This year’s proceedings were postponed, however, due to the partisan deadlock over the special Sewol bill.

“The audits will be the main opposition party’s chance to regain public confidence,” said Yun Seong-yi, professor of Korean politics at Kyung Hee University.

“But I doubt the audits will be thorough enough, with so many other things to do at the National Assembly.”

The deadlock over the special bill has left normal legislative duties pending, leaving lawmakers with a lengthy task list for the rest of the year.

The parliament must review the 2015 government budget by Nov. 30 in accordance with the National Assembly Act, while lawmakers must also review over 7,000 draft bills that have been left pending during the standstill over the special Sewol bill. The bills include important international agreements such as the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)