SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States plans to cut its troops in South Korea (news - web sites) by a third by the end of next year, part of a worldwide shift to use of higher technology in defense, the two countries said Monday.

Although communist North Korea (news - web sites)'s 1.1-million-strong armed forces dwarf the U.S. contingent of 37,500 troops, any reduction is closely watched because its symbolic deterrent value outweighs its numerical strength. Ally South Korea has 690,000 troops.

"U.S. officials told us last night that under their Global Defense Posture Review they are planning to reduce the number of U.S. troops here by 12,500 by the end of December 2005," Kim Sook, head of the ministry's North America bureau, told reporters.

That would include 3,600 U.S. soldiers already earmarked for deployment to Iraq (news - web sites) from South Korea.

A statement released by United States Forces Korea (USFK) confirmed the details of the proposed redeployment plan, although a USFK spokeswoman declined to comment further.

Washington announced late last year that it aimed to transform its forces deployed worldwide using advances in military technology and smaller more mobile units to better respond to different types of security needs...