A bill that would pave the way for fresh investigations into the April 3 Jeju Uprising and compensate its victims has been adopted by parliament. 

In a plenary session at the National Assembly held on Friday, lawmakers passed the amendment bill on the Jeju 4·3 Special Act, which took effect 21 years earlier with the charge to recover the truth behind the tragedies of 1948 and restore due honor. 

The amendment would provide legal grounds for systematic compensation for the victims and bereaved families. It also calls for new ways to restore victims' honor, including conducting group retrials. 

The new law makes room for the launch of additional state probes as deemed necessary. A new investigation would begin with a decision by a special state committee, which requires four additional members consisting of those recommended by the ruling and main opposition parties. 

The Jeju Uprising took place amid deepening ideological divisions on the Korean Peninsula ahead of the Korean War and is estimated to have claimed the lives of as many as 30-thousand people, many of them civilians.