South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is pursuing organizational changes in the direction of reducing its personnel by 10 percent, an informed source said Thursday, amid the country's push to create a slimmer yet more advanced military.

Through the changes, some of the JCS' reduced personnel are expected to be assigned to a new body that will be in charge of cutting-edge military assets, according to the source.

The JCS is known to be considering measures to create a new organization that will oversee the drone operations command, set to launch later this year, and other units.

"(We) are considering organizational changes for an optimized organization to pursue Defense Innovation 4.0," a military official said.

Under the Defense Innovation 4.0 initiative, South Korea seeks to incorporate new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and robots, into the military to cope with the prospect of a shrinking population caused by its low birthrate. (Yonhap)