Lew Byong-hun, the first deputy commander of the Combined Forces Command jointly operated by South Korea and the United States, died Thursday at age 96, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a press release.

A former four-star Army general, Lew was one of the joint command’s founding members in 1978. After leaving the command a year later, he went on to serve as chairman of Korea’s JCS until 1981.

US Forces Korea Commander Robert Abrams, who heads the joint command, offered his condolences to Lew’s family and praised him for his role in “cementing the ROK-US alliance as the linchpin of safety and security in Northeast Asia.”

“General Lew will be truly missed,” he said.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)