Former and current US Forces Korea service members will establish a brand-new association next week to promote friendly ties between the two countries, according to a group of figures here advocating the further development of the alliance on Wednesday.
The organization, named the "Korea Defense Veterans Association," is scheduled to be created in Washington DC on May 3.
An image of South Korea-US alliance in a photo provided by Yonhap News TV. (Yonhap)
Headed by former USFK commander Walter "Skip" Sharp, it will have around 3.5 million members in both the U. and South Korea, they said in a statement.
They will include not only USFK veterans and personnel but also Koreans who served in the US military under the Korean Augmentation to the US Army program.
The pro-alliance figures said they will set up the Korea-US Alliance Foundation in Seoul later Wednesday to support the KDVA. Former South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan has been named the first chairman of the KUSAF.
Efforts to create the KDVA began in 2014 for the purpose of commemorating the US troops' service for peace on the peninsula and fostering the alliance between Seoul and Washington.
The USFK has been stationed here for more than six decades, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
Currently, there are around 28,500 American troops in South Korea. (Yonhap)