An adjustment of investigative authority held by the prosecution and the police, a move aimed at reducing the prosecution's power as part of the government's judicial reforms, is set to take effect next year.
On Friday, the Justice Ministry issued an advance notice for presidential orders in relation to laws on criminal procedure and the prosecution revised earlier this year.
The revised laws restricted the prosecution to directly investigate only major crimes concerning corruption, the economy, public officials, elections, defense-related businesses and disasters.
The presidential office, the government and the ruling party further detailed the limit to cases involving senior public officials, bribery of more than 30 million won, economic crimes of more than 500 million won and political fund crimes of more than 50 million won.
The prosecution will also be allowed to directly investigate crimes involving the narcotics trade and cyber terrorism against state establishments.
The ministry estimated the number of cases directly investigated by the prosecution to decline from the current 50-thousand to eight-thousand per year.