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Senate confirms Korean American official as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security

Published: 20 Dec. 2025, 10:18

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia John Noh speaks during a Senate confirmation hearing in Washington on Oct. 7. The photo was captured from a livestream from the Senate Committee on Armed Services' website. [YONHAP]

The U.S. Senate has confirmed John Noh as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, a post that deals with defense cooperation with South Korea and other regional allies and partners, Congress's website showed Friday.

On Thursday, the upper chamber approved the Korean American, who has served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, in a 53-43 vote.

The confirmation came as Seoul and Washington are working to deepen security cooperation and "modernize" the bilateral alliance amid North Korea's advancing nuclear and ballistic missile threats and China's growing assertiveness.

In his written answers to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee in October, Noh said that many South Korean defense capabilities could contribute to deterring China, as he stressed that the United States' defense priorities should focus on addressing the "most serious" military threat of the Asian superpower.

Regarding China's naval activities in the Yellow Sea, Noh said that those activities appear to be aimed at "intimidating" South Korea, apparently referring to China's installation of steel structures in the Provisional Maritime Zone, an overlapping stretch of sea between the two countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump nominated him for the assistant secretary post in June.

Before joining the Pentagon, Noh served as deputy general counsel on the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Prior to his stint on the committee, Noh was an attorney in private practice and worked on cross-border investigations.

Noh is a graduate of Brown University and Stanford Law School.

Yonhap