The United States will withdraw about 20 Apache attack helicopters from South Korea for redeployment in Iraq and Afghanistan next year, the U.S. military said Sunday. The U.S. has notified South Korea of its plan to re-station one of the two Apache battalions in South Korea to make the unit available for rotational deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military command in Seoul said in a statement. Each Apache battalion is comprised of some 20 helicopters, according to U.S. military spokesman Kim Yong-kyu. It was not immediately clear when the Apaches would be withdrawn from South Korea. The U.S. plans to send 12 A-10 attack aircraft and two MH-53 helicopters to South Korea next March to temporarily replace the departing Apaches, Kim said. The U.S. remains fully committed to the defense of the Republic of Korea and the overall security and stability of the region,'' the statement quoted Lt. Gen. Joseph Fil, chief of the 8th U.S. Army in South Korea, as saying. The Republic of Korea is South Korea's official name. The departing Apache helicopters will be stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, before their new operational deployment in the fall of 2009, according to the U.S. statement. The U.S. has about 28,500 troops in South Korea as deterrence against communist North Korea. Technically, the two Koreas are still at war, because their 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.