The Korea Herald

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Justice Ministry seeks to remove statute of limitations for murders

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Published : Nov. 17, 2011 - 17:35

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SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is seeking to abolish the time limit for prosecuting murderers as part of efforts to better prevent life-threatening crimes, the Justice Ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry is pushing to revise related laws to lift the 25-year statute of limitations on all kinds of murder and homicide cases, it said.

The revision efforts also include a plan to allow use of electronic anklets for muggers. The envisioned change may help police better track down suspects of robbery, a highly recurrent crime, the ministry said.

The plan to expand the use of anklets has been written into law and the ministry announced it to the public last month, it said.

Currently, use of electronic anklets is limited only to rapists, sex offenders, killers and child kidnappers.

"We will make every effort to protect people from violent crimes," a ministry official said. "The plan to lift the statute of limitations reflects our determination to bring murderers to assume responsibility (without time limitations)."

The latest move toward revision came after the National Assembly passed a revision last month to lift the statute of limitations on rapes against disabled people and children under age 13.