An advertisement began airing on a Times Square billboard in New York on Monday, to thank the countries that sent troops to support South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, Yonhap News reported in Washington. June 25 is the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the war.
The ad titled "What are these numbers?" centers on the theme that the numbers of all soldiers from the 16 countries who fought on South Korea's side added up to peace.
Seo Kyoung-duk, a self-proclaimed Korea promoter who organized the ad campaign, said it came with donations from Korean corporations, students and immigrants in the U.S. and will appear about 350 times on the CNN news billboard at Times Square over the next two weeks.
The ad will also air on a billboard on Manhattan's 32nd Street that houses the "Koreatown" area along with many high-end department stores.
"On the occasion of the Korean War 60th anniversary, we wanted to look back at the meanings of war and especially express our gratitude to the soldiers who fought in the war," Seo, also a visiting scholar at Sungshin Women's University in Seoul, said.
He previously ran similar ads on the Times Square billboard, in the New York Times and the Washington Post promoting Korea's ownership of the easternmost Dokdo islets while territorial claims were heightened by Japan.
During the 1950-53 war, some 1.9 million soldiers from 16 countries fought on South Korea's side under the U.N. Command. Five other nations sent medical assistance.