South Korea plans to develop weapons systems necessary to defend itself without assistance from the U.S. by 2020.

The Defense Ministry unveiled the blueprint for self-reliant national defense in a polity report on Tuesday.

The envisaged 15-year plan calls for bolstering research and investment to develop core technologies for high-tech weaponry and acquire them by 2010.

The plan includes development of more than 270 technologies for most of which Seoul is currently reliant upon the U.S. Among them are technologies for surveillance and reconnaissance, command and control, intelligence and electronic warfare, as well as precision-guided munitions.

The report comes on the heels of a U.S. announcement earlier this month that it would eventually reduce the number of its troops in South Korea by one-third in line with a global realignment of its forces.