The nation’s criminal justice system is expected to witness major changes with two reform bills that reduce the prosecution’s investigative powers set to take effect in September.

With the revisions to the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act, the prosecution will be able to launch an investigation for only two types of crimes - those concerning corruption and the economy.

Prior to the revisions, prosecutors could launch probes into six types of serious crimes, including those related to public employees, elections, defense projects and large disasters. For the time being, the police will be investigating the four types of crimes that the prosecution will no longer be able to look into.

However, both police and prosecutors will be investigating election-related crimes through the end of the year given that the nation will hold local elections in June.

Also under the reform bills, individual prosecutors will not be able to prosecute a case for which they launched an investigation. Instead, they will hand over evidence collected from their probe to another prosecutor who will then decide whether or not to seek an indictment.