Seoul: The Cabinet on Tuesday approved two pivotal prosecution reform bills designed to strip the prosecution of its investigative authority and set the stage for a new indictment agency.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the bills focusing on the establishment of a serious crimes investigation agency and an indictment agency were advanced by the ruling Democratic Party and successfully passed in the National Assembly last week. The session was notably boycotted by the main opposition, the People Power Party.

The newly formed indictment agency will exclusively handle the process of indictments, while investigative responsibilities will be transitioned to the serious crimes investigation agency. This new investigative body, which falls under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, will be tasked with investigating six major crime categories, such as corruption, economic offenses, defense industry-related crimes, and drug offenses.

Both the indictment and investigation agencies are scheduled to be operational in October. This move will coincide with the dismantling of the current prosecution service structure, aligning with the government's initiative to distinctly separate the powers of investigation and indictment.