The United States says it will hand over the responsibility for security in the Joint Security Area at the border village of Panmunjom to South Korea by the end of this year.

The Stars and Stripes, a newspaper for the U.S. military, said that U.S. soldiers will no longer be seen patrolling the border area starting next year, more than 50 years after the Korean War.

The reports said the U.S. military will also turn over Outpost Ouellette, a guard post at the demilitarized zone manned by American soldiers, to South Korea's military.

Ouellette is the only guard post inside the 4-kilometer-wide Demilitarized Zone that has been manned by American soldiers. It is only 25 meters from the military demarcation line and a few hundred meters away from Panmunjom.