South Korea's Maj. Gen. Cho Young-rae has been named a new senior member of the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC), the Defense Ministry announced Friday.

Cho will also serve as deputy chief of staff of the (South Korean-US) Combined Forces Command, it added.

Since the end of Korean War in 1953, the United Sates has been maintaining military presence in South Korea.

The officer has worked as the head of the 7th Artillery Brigadeand the 51st Division of South Korean Army.

UNCMAC was established in July 1953 to supervise the enforcement of the armistice agreement concluded after a three-year war on the Korean peninsula.

The commission, based in South Korea, is composed of five senior military officers from the UN member countries that participated in the Korean War.

Since 1991, South Korean military generals have held the post of UNCMAC senior member.

Source: Xinhua