South Korea and the United States have agreed to pull out all American troops from Seoul as part of a global realignment plan of the US forces, South Korea's defence ministry said on Saturday.
The decision to move US troops south, away from the border with North Korea, was taken on a request by Washington and after a meeting between the two sides in Hawaii, a ministry spokesman said.
The US military presence in the centre of the South Korean capital over the past 50 years has been a constant source of anti-US sentiment in South Korea.
The ministry did not disclose details of the plan, which came a day after South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun named his foreign policy adviser and seasoned diplomat Ban Ki-moon as foreign minister.
Ban's predecessor, criticised by some officials as being too pro-American, quit on Thursday in a dispute pitting pro-US ministry officials against left-leaning presidential aides over South Korea's policy towards the United States and North Korea.
South Korea's military had wanted to keep some American troops in Seoul on security concerns, while anti-US protesters demanded a withdrawal of all 37,000 US troops from the country.
The US troops have been stationed in South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean conflict.
The Korea Times newspaper said there would likely be only about 50 US soldiers at a liason office adjacent to South Korea's defence ministry building in central Seoul.
The land occupied by the US forces would be returned to the Seoul metropolitan government, it said.
"We will make efforts to come up with steps in order for our people not to feel uneasy," said Assistant Defence Minister Cha Young-koo, the chief delegate for South Korea, in a local YTN television news.
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