Seoul's state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said in the report on numerically-calculated war capability that the communist North has the edge over South Korea in both the army and the navy.

The South's air force was slightly superior to the North's, it said.

The report followed calls by South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun for a more independent "cooperative self-defense" policy after the United States announced it would cut its troops here by one third.

South Korea maintains 690,000 troops, backed by around 37,000 US forces, while North Korea boasts a 1.1-million-strong military.

Washington has said it plans to withdraw 12,500 US troops from South Korea by next year as part of a worldwide redeployment. Seoul wants to push back the timetable.

Despite recent moves towards rapprochement, the two Koreas are still at war. They have yet to replace the armistice signed after the 1950-53 Korean War with a peace treaty.