By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park Heung-ryul was conferred the Legion of Merit, the top U.S. military decoration awarded to foreign military and political personnel, by U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., the South Korean Army said Sunday.
The U.S. military honored Park's contributions to enhancing the military alliance between South Korea and the United States, it said in a news release.
The Legion of Merit medal is sixth in the order of precedence of U.S. military decorations.
Park visited the United States Jan. 21-24 as the last stop of his overseas tour that took him to Japan and China.
Park and Casey discussed a range of issues of mutual concern including the development of the Korea-U.S. alliance and joint peacekeeping efforts worldwide, it said.
During his stay in the United States, Park paid a tribute to the Korean War memorial in the Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, and visited the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin to review the U.S. military's scientific combat training systems, according to the release.
The NTC is an advanced training facility that is equipped for force-on-force and live fire training of heavy, brigade-sized military units.