Two events in Seoul on Thursday drew Korean and U.S. officials and business leaders as their nations celebrated another year of cooperation.

Hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea and the Korea International Trade Association at Hyatt Hotel, the first event was attended by prominent figures including U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim and KITA head Han Duck-soo.

The second event of the evening was hosted by the Korea America Friendship Society at Millennium Hilton Seoul.

KAFS underscored the importance of the U.S.-Korea alliance as it hosted U.S. military top brass, diplomats and Korean VIPs during its annual year-end reception Thursday.

KAFS underlined the vital importance of the U.S. alliance as it hosted some 200 guests, including Gen. Kwon Oh-sung, deputy commander of Combined Forces Command; Leslie A. Bassett, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy; and, Lt. Gen. Jan-Marc Jouas, deputy commander of U.S. Forces in Korea.

When asked what the alliance means to him, KAFS President Han Chul-soo said: “You know, when I was 17 years old, I volunteered as a student-soldier and served shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. servicemen and women in that war. I saw for myself how they fought bravely to safeguard freedom and democracy on the Korean Peninsula.

“We have to remember these sacrifices,” Han said.

KAFS was founded in June 1991 to promote understanding, and exchange of ideas between individual Koreans and Americans and, through people-to-people interactions, it strengthens the partnership between Korea and the United States. Its members include prominent leaders from various segments of Korean society.

“Since my arrival I learned many things about Korea thanks to the hospitality of KAS,” Bassett said in a speech during the reception.

“A group of students at Gyeonggi Science High School taught me how to bow properly; nine North Koreans now living in Daegu shared with me the fact they can now travel anywhere they want, reminding me to cherish those freedoms won 60 years ago; and, of course, with the rest of the world, I learned to dance ‘Gangnam Style,’” she said.

The Korea America Friendship Society has hosted the annual year-end reception since being established in 1991 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan civilian organization to help support the alliance between the two countries. The society has about 600 members in Korea and the U.S.

For more than 20 years, it has publicly expressed its commitment to the U.S.-Korea alliance by organizing charitable and humanitarian projects in which U.S. service members work side by side with locals.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)