A South Korean National Assembly committee on Tuesday approved a special bill on the military's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju in 1980.

The bill, passed by the national defense committee after weeks of partisan wrangling, calls for the establishment of a nine-member independent fact-finding organization behind the use of force against civilians protesting against the junta of Chun Doo-hwan during the Gwangju uprising, known as the Gwangju Democratization Movement, in the southwestern city.

It also includes a stipulation on looking into whether North Korea's military was involved in the incident.

The bill is an alternative to five different ones submitted by ruling and opposition lawmakers.

It has been sent to the parliament's legislative and judiciary committee, and will likely be put to vote at a plenary session at the end of this month.

A government-civilian probe team, created by the Ministry of National Defense, recently found that the local Army launched helicopter gunship attacks on the protesters at that time, with fighter jets loaded with bombs on standby.

It suggests that the military suppressed the demonstrations in a premeditated, brutal manner, investigators added.

The bloodshed led to the deaths of around 200 people, and 1,000 others were wounded, according to an official tally. But other estimates put the death toll at 1,000-2,000.(Yonhap)