A top U.S. military general says the United States will not send replacements for several thousand of its troops in South Korea that are to be deployed soon to Iraq.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, said the redeployment is part of a larger plan to restructure American forces overseas, known as the Global Defense Posture Review.

Speaking at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee Friday, Gen. Myers also said the U.S. plans to hand over to Seoul some of the military duties American forces in South Korea have been conducting since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, was also at the hearing. He said there won't be a replacement of U.S. forces to be redeployed to Iraq from South Korea, citing "the changed military landscape" in the South that requires other means of defense rather than just manpower.

Schoomaker said South Korea's military abilities have improved greatly since he served in that country 30 years ago, adding that "the means of conflict would be much different than that of the past" if there is an outbreak of hostilities on the Korean peninsula.

The United States announced earlier this week that it will redeploy some 3,600 of its troops in South Korea to Iraq for a one-year tour of duty.