A Korean-American has set up a billboard along a highway near Atlanta to mark the 60th anniversary of the breakout of the Korean War, thanking America for dispatching its troops to Korea to protect the country’s freedom.

Sunny K. Park, the chief executive of GMB Inc., a large janitorial service company in the U.S., put up the billboard, which stands along a ramp that leads into the center of Atlanta on the I-85 highway on June 16.

The billboard has the Stars and Stripes and a man wearing a Korean traditional hat and holding a torchlight symbolizing the community of Korean-Americans.

The sing reads “Americans Died to Defend South Koreans’ Freedom. South Koreans say...Thank You America! www.KAmericans.com.”

“As I went through the Korean War in my childhood, I cannot help but thanking Americans for their support and noble sacrifice far away from their homes,” Park told Yonhap news agency. “Without their sacrifice and support, Korea could not have developed.”

The billboard, which will stay until July 20, shows the texts and images on both sides, being visible from the north and south of I-85. Motorists can see them even at night because it is an electronic display.

Park has been running the Korea-America Friendship Society of Atlanta since 1996 to promote exchanges and friendship between Americans and Koreans. Also, he established a private organization Good Neighboring Campaign to encourage high school dropouts into participating in the Youth Challenge Program run by the U.S. National Guard.

Since last April, Park also started publishing the KAmerican Post, which is an online news media aimed at helping Koreans settle in the United States.

The website also has a banner that expresses Koreans’ appreciation for Americans. U.S. war veterans are contacting the media or Park himself to thank him.

KAmerican Post is planning a project to install another billboard with the same content in Los Angeles where the most number of Koreans reside.

Park hopes that Koreans living in the U.S. will contribute to the project which will cost around $5,000.

For inquiries, call (770) 452-8039 or e-mail kap@kamerican.com

(youngaah@heraldcorp.com)