Seoul: The government has revised its plans for establishing two new bodies intended to replace the current prosecution service, following widespread criticism that the proposed agencies would not significantly differ from the existing structure, a task force revealed.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the serious crimes investigation agency and the indictment agency are scheduled to be launched in October as part of a government reorganization bill that received approval from the National Assembly last September. These new entities aim to assume the investigative and indictment powers of the prosecution office as part of the Lee Jae Myung administration's initiative to mitigate concerns over the prosecution's alleged politically motivated investigations.

Initially, the investigation agency was envisioned to handle nine major types of crimes, including corruption and insurrection. However, the revised bill reduces this number to six, excluding crimes involving public officials, elections, and large-scale disasters. This change addresses concerns over the potential overlap with powers of other agencies, as stated by the prosecution reform task force operating under the Prime Minister's Office.

The revised bill outlines that the new agency will focus on crimes related to corruption, economic offenses, the defense industry, narcotics, cyber activities, and insurrections and foreign aggression. It also streamlines the organizational structure by removing the distinction between prosecutors and general professional investigators, as originally proposed. Instead, all personnel will be designated as investigators, ranked from Grades 1 to 9 according to their expertise and responsibilities.

The title of the agency's leader will remain "prosecutor general," with no changes made in this regard. Conversely, the revised bill for the indictment agency introduces the dismissal of a prosecutor as a disciplinary action, a measure absent from the original proposal, which allowed dismissal only through impeachment or a prison sentence. Furthermore, it prohibits the unfair treatment of prosecutors who question the fairness of orders from superiors.

The task force has announced that legislative notices on the revised bills have been issued and will be available for review until Thursday.