President Lee Jae Myung, second from left, speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved two prosecution reform bills aimed at stripping the prosecution of investigative authority and laying the legal groundwork for a new indictment agency.
The bills on establishing the so-called serious crimes investigation agency and the indictment agency, pushed by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, were passed at the National Assembly last week in a plenary session boycotted by the main opposition People Power Party.
Under the bill, the new indictment agency will handle only indictments, while investigative powers will be transferred to a newly established serious crimes investigation agency.
The new investigative body will be established under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and will be responsible for probing six major crimes, including corruption, economic offenses, defense industry-related crimes and drug offenses.
The two agencies are set to be established in October, when the current prosecution service structure will be abolished as part of the government's push to separate the powers of investigation and indictment.
Source: Korea Times News
