By Hyunsu Yim
SEOUL (Reuters) -&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;is&nbsp;marking the 70th anniversary of its&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;alliance&nbsp;with much fanfare, including a public information campaign featuring a K-pop-inspired&nbsp;rap&nbsp;song, with the partners extolling closer ties as global tensions rise.
The&nbsp;alliance&nbsp;was forged in the 1950-53&nbsp;Korean War&nbsp;and&nbsp;some 28,000&nbsp;U.S. troops remain in&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea, to the fury of North&nbsp;Korea, which defends its development of nuclear weapons citing the danger of what it says is a&nbsp;U.S.-South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;plan to invade.
While no&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean government has ever seriously questioned the&nbsp;alliance,&nbsp;and&nbsp;public support is solid if not overwhelming, former&nbsp;U.S. President Donald Trump caused consternation with a suggestion that&nbsp;U.S. forces could pull out.
The conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol hailed the importance of the&nbsp;alliance&nbsp;on a visit to the White House this year, where he sang the hit "American Pie" for President Joe Biden.
The government's information campaign for the anniversary features a video, broadcast on social media&nbsp;and&nbsp;in cinemas, that includes a clip of that sing-song, along with images of the two countries' flags&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;rap&nbsp;song.
"A perfect chemistry protecting freedom&nbsp;and&nbsp;solidarity, mutually advantageous for industry&nbsp;and&nbsp;the economy," go some of the lyrics.
The information campaign is intended to "heighten the public's understanding of the&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea-US&nbsp;alliance", the culture ministry told Reuters.
The&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean embassy in the United States staged a&nbsp;fashion&nbsp;show last month&nbsp;marking the anniversary, with models in traditional&nbsp;Korean dresses featuring&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean&nbsp;and&nbsp;U.S. flags.
SOFT POWER
South&nbsp;Korea's showcasing of its&nbsp;U.S. ties comes after rival North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;has been making much of its relations with its old partner, Russia.
Russia's foreign&nbsp;and&nbsp;defence ministers have both visited North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;in recent months&nbsp;and&nbsp;its leader, Kim Jong Il, met Russian President Vladimir Putin in September in Russia.
South&nbsp;Korea's spy agency suspects that North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;has sent Russia more than 10 shipments of munitions for its war against Ukraine, a politician briefed by the agency said on Wednesday.
U.S. forces, meanwhile, have held a series of military exercises in the region including one last month with&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;and&nbsp;Japanese forces featuring a&nbsp;U.S. B-52 strategic bomber.
Lee Gyu-tag, an associate professor of global affairs at George Mason University&nbsp;Korea, said&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;was trying to tap into pop culture to bolster support for the&nbsp;alliance&nbsp;but it risked a backlash.
"When soft power is so blatantly used for a purpose, people won't like it&nbsp;and&nbsp;it might even backfire," Lee said.
While some online commentators praised the&nbsp;rap&nbsp;video others said it was "cringey".
Overall, about one in two&nbsp;South&nbsp;Koreans believe the&nbsp;alliance&nbsp;should be strengthened, according to a Gallup&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;poll commissioned by the government in September.
The&nbsp;U.S. Embassy is&nbsp;marking the friendship with a limited edition "Alliance&nbsp;Pale Ale" at its cafeteria in Seoul, made by a&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean brewery with ingredients from both countries, in cans featuring&nbsp;Korean tigers&nbsp;and&nbsp;U.S. eagles.
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(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; editing by Robert Birsel)

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South Korea, U.S. mark alliance with rap song, fashion and beer