A new monument was erected Friday to honor 130 U.S. and South Korean soldiers killed in Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The monument was dedicated to 92 members of the U.S. Forces Korea and 38 members of the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army (KATUSA) program, who were killed in action while defending the South against North Korean military provocations and on other duties, according to the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.
The KATUSA program was launched in the early stages of the Korean War to provide the U.S. forces with soldiers who knew the local terrain and language.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are currently stationed in South Korea to defend the country against the North, as the Koreas are still technically at war following an armistice agreement in 1953.
The names of the deceased soldiers are engraved on a memorial stone erected on the U.S. military base in Yongsan, Seoul, and include two U.S. Army officers who were axed to death by North Korean soldiers at the truce village of Panmunjom in 1976.
In a speech during the monument's unveiling ceremony, U.S. Army Gen. James Thurman, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said the memorial is the first of its kind and serves as a mark of respect for the deceased soldiers. (Yonhap)