SEOUL — A South Korean woman with a direct connection to the U.S. military recently donated $1,000 to bring 2nd Infantry Division soldiers deployed in Iraq a taste of her country.

Jin Hyun, a JVC electronics representative at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores, has worked with the military for 15 years. She spends most of her time visiting the U.S. bases and has developed what she calls a “brother-sister” relationship with many of the soldiers.

She became especially attached to the 2nd ID soldiers at the more austere camps north of Seoul, where she’d find them decked out in full combat gear, faces painted with camouflage, on maneuvers. When she’d pull up, they’d never fail to “shine their big and happy smiles,” she said.

But seeing how they lived never failed to choke her up.

Often, as she left the camps, she’d load up her car with a few soldiers hoping to make their way down to Seoul for shopping and entertainment.

Learning 3,500 2nd ID troops would form the 2nd Brigade Combat Team (Strike Force) and deploy to Iraq saddened Hyun. And during an interview Thursday, her eyes teared as she described how “crushed” she felt when the casualties began hitting the news.

“I can’t forget their innocent and pure smiles and their faces with their pink, young cheeks,” she said. She kept thinking that these young soldiers were the first from South Korea to risk — and lose — their lives in the current combat.

“Who knows,” she said, noting she may have once given one of them a ride. “They were like my younger brothers.”

Hyun told friend Richard Kim she wanted to do something special for the soldiers. He went to his former boss, Anthony Cuccia, 8th Personnel Command postal operations officer and Adjutant General’s Regimental Association president.

Cuccia has helped arrange the mail for the deployed soldiers; he knew members of Alpha Detachment, 509th Personnel Services Battalion, who deployed to Iraq to support the Strike Force. He contacted the soldiers in Iraq, who told him they wanted instant Korean noodles and individual coffee packs.

Cuccia bought $1,000 of the requested goods and enlisted the local Family Readiness Group to help pack and wrap them.

He said he knew the soldiers were getting care packages with the normal goods — American snacks, toothpaste, etc. — but that Hyun’s donations brought a real taste of South Korea to troops who won’t even return to the peninsula after their tour; they’re to relocate to Fort Carson, Colo.

“We’re so thankful to Ms. Hyun,” Cuccia said. “She’s so generous.”

He said Col. Michael J. Harris, 8th Personnel Command commander, has signed a certificate for Hyun, to be presented to her May 21 at the Adjutant General’s ball. “Your generous contribution showed genuine concern and compassion for our soldiers deployed to Iraq,” the certificate reads. “Your actions have touched the hearts of us all and have contributed significantly to enhancing Korean and American cultural relations.”

Hyun said she was happy to brighten a few soldiers’ day, but “what I really wish for them is that they can survive in Iraq and come back to their loved one’s arms in their nation.”