The talks will take place June 7-8 on the sidelines of a regular conference the two countries have held for two years to rewrite their security pact.

Previous talks have focused on the closure of US camps near the inter-Korean border and in Seoul.

"We have agreed through diplomatic channels to start talks on the scale of the US troop presence," Kim Sook, head of the foreign ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, told reporters.

Kim will lead the South Korean delegation while Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless will head the US side.

Local media reports say Washington wants to cut down nearly one third of its 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea under a mutual defense pact dating back to the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Pentagon has confirmed it would redeploy around 3,600 troops from South Korea for up to a year's combat duty in Iraq, the first US troop cut on the Korean peninsula since the early 1990s.

The cut is part of the global troop redeployment planned by the United States to transform its military into a leaner, more mobile fighting force to meet a new security environment in the post-Cold War world.

The realignment sparked concern in Seoul that it was the signal for deeper cuts which would harm South Korea's security at a time of a lingering stand-off over North Korea's nuclear weapons.

South Korean officials said the new US strategy should not affect the firepower of US troops here and security ties between the two countries.

WAR.WIRE