Kim Jong-nam -- the eldest son of late former leader Kim Jong-il -- was killed at an airport in Malaysia on Monday after allegedly being attacked with poison by two women, according to South Korea's spy agency.

According to the RFA, Poe expressed his stance that if the North turns out to be behind the murder, it will be another terrorist act by the North.

The lawmaker introduced a similar bill to the previous House last year, saying Pyongyang meets the criteria for terror sponsor designation. That bill later passed through the Foreign Affairs Committee but was ultimately scrapped as the House expired at the end of last year.

North Korea was put on the US terrorism sponsor list for the 1987 midair bombing of a Korean Airlines flight that killed all 115 people aboard. But the US administration under President George W. Bush removed Pyongyang from the list in 2008 in exchange for progress in denuclearization talks.

Calls had spiked for putting the North back on the list after Pyongyang was found to be responsible for the 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures. But the State Department did not do so, saying relisting would only be symbolic without significant practical consequences. (Yonhap)