Maj. Gen. Edward Cardon, left, commander of the United States Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, and Suh Jin-sup, center, chairman of the Korean-American Friendship Association, hold up a scroll with the name “Choi Min-ho” written in Sino-Korean script, during a reception in Seoul on April 20. / Courtesy of KAFA

By Philip Iglauer

Maj. Gen. Edward Cardon, commander of the United States Army’s 2nd Infantry Division in Korea, adopted a Korean nickname as a gesture of friendship to Korea on April 20.

Cardon adopted the name Choi Min-ho at a reception in Seoul hosted by the Korean-American Friendship Association (KAFA), in which about 100 members of the American Taekwondo Association visited from Little Rock, Arkansas.

In the reception attended by over a hundred U.S. service members, Suh Jin-sup, 81, chairman of KAFA presented a certificate to Cardon, which illustrated the special importance of his new name.

The meaning of the name “Min-ho” carries symbolic significance of “protecting the peace and prosperity of the Korean people,” according to a press release by KAFA.

Some 10,000 soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division are almost all based in a northern region between the capital of Seoul and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

U.S. President Barack Obama has adopted the name Oh Han-ma and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has been given the name Han Hee-sook.