US President Donald Trump has nominated former congresswoman Michelle Park Steel as the next US ambassador to South Korea, according to a nomination submitted to the Senate on Tuesday.
Steel, a Korean American Republican who represented California for two terms in the House of Representatives, would fill a diplomatic post that has remained vacant since former Ambassador Philip Goldberg departed Seoul in January 2025.
A presidential office official here, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government is aware of Washington’s formal nomination of Steel and expressed expectations over her potential role.
“We are aware that the US side has officially nominated former Rep. Michelle Steel as ambassador to South Korea,” the Cheong Wa Dae official said. “If she is formally appointed, we expect Ambassador-designate Steel to contribute to strengthening the Korea-US alliance and promoting friendship between the peoples of the two countries.”
The nomination comes at a time when Seoul and Washington are navigating a broad agenda, including efforts to update the bilateral alliance framework, manage trade and investment frictions, and coordinate responses to regional and global challenges such as North Korea’s evolving threats and instability in the Middle East.
If confirmed, Steel is expected to restore a permanent diplomatic channel between the allies following more than a year of interim leadership at the US Embassy in Seoul. Since Goldberg’s departure, former North Korea envoy Joseph Yun briefly served as charge d’affaires, followed by Kevin Kim, a former deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s East Asian and Pacific Affairs bureau.
Currently, the post is being filled by James R. Heller, who is serving as charge d’affaires ad interim at the US Embassy in Seoul. He took over after former acting envoy Kim returned to Washington in January, and is expected to lead the mission until a Senate-confirmed ambassador is appointed.
Steel would become the second Korean American to serve as Washington’s top envoy in Seoul, after Sung Kim, who held the post from 2011-2014.
During Trump’s first administration, Steel participated in the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Elected to Congress in 2020 and reelected in 2022, she lost her seat in the 2024 general election.
While in office, she was involved in legislative efforts addressing the long-standing issue of Korean American families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Before her time in Congress, Steel held local and state-level positions in California, including roles on the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the California State Board of Equalization.
Steel is one of the first Korean American women ever elected to Congress and has built a reputation within Republican circles as a key Asian American outreach figure, particularly in mobilizing Korean American and broader Asian American voters in California.
She has also been a vocal critic of China during her time in Congress, backing legislation aimed at countering Beijing’s influence and strengthening US alliances in the Indo-Pacific — a stance that could shape her approach to Seoul-Washington coordination on regional security issues if confirmed.
Born in South Korea, she spent her early years across Korea, Japan and the US.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
