The Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly held a subcommittee meeting on Tuesday to pass a bill aimed at repealing the 25-year statute of limitations on murder.
 
The committee is expected to hold a plenary session Wednesday to vote on the bill. If approved at the committee, the bill will be put up for a vote at a plenary session of the National Assembly.
 
The proposal of the bill was triggered by renewed public anger over an unsolved murder case involving a six-year-old boy in Daegu in 1999. The boy, Kim Tae-wan, died in pain at a hospital 49 days after being attacked with sulfuric acid in an alley near his house on the way to a cram school.
 
Rep. Seo Young-kyo of the major opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), who proposed the bill, said it was necessary to get justice for those who died a wrongful death. 
 
Seo initially proposed the elimination of time limits for various offenses including murder and manslaughter. The subcommittee, however, decided to only discuss eliminating the statute of limitations for murder.