South Korea will reduce the number of its military generals by about a tenth starting next year, a senior government official said Thursday.

The Defense Ministry has drawn up a plan to downsize the total number of generals in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps from the current level of about 440 to some 400, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The plan is expected to be implemented in stages starting next year.

"The Defense Ministry is coordinating with the Army, Navy and Air Force on reducing the total number of generals by about 40 people," the official said. "The downsize is expected to be about 30 people from the Army, five to six people from the Navy and seven people from the Air Force."

The reduction would fall short of the initial proposal made by the previous Lee Myung-bak administration, which called for scaling back the number by about 60 as part of military reform measures.

It would also leave the number of generals per 10,000 troops at 7.6, higher than the United States which has 5 per 10,000.

The Navy and Air Force have already protested the plan, according to another government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The size of the reduction is small for the Army, which is large, whereas the smaller Navy and Air Force are being squeezed," the official said. (Yonhap)