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Trump taps former U.S. lawmaker Steel as ambassador to Korea after long vacancy

Published: 14 Apr. 2026, 18:43 Updated: 15 Apr. 2026, 14:39

Michelle Park Steel addresses supporters at her election office in Buena Park, California, on Nov. 4, 2024. [AP/YONHAP]

WASHINGTON — Former United States Rep. Michelle Park Steel, a Korean American politician, was nominated Monday as the first U.S. ambassador to South Korea under the second Donald Trump administration.

The White House said on its website that President Trump has nominated Steel for the post and formally requested confirmation from the Senate.

The position has been vacant for about a year and three months since former Ambassador Philip Goldberg, who was appointed under the Joe Biden administration, stepped down in January last year. During that period, former Chargé d’Affaires Joseph Yun and Kevin Kim served in acting roles for nine months and three months, respectively, followed more recently by Deputy Chief of Mission James Heller, prolonging the vacancy.

Both countries’ ambassadors to be women

The prolonged vacancy had raised concerns that South Korea might be slipping down the diplomatic priority list under the second Trump administration, but Steel’s nomination is expected to help normalize diplomatic communication channels between the two countries.

If confirmed, this will also mark the first time that both the South Korean ambassador to the U.S. and the U.S. ambassador to South Korea are women. The ambassador to the U.S., Kang Kyung-wha, was nominated by South Korean president Lee Jae Myung in August last year and appointed in October of the same year.

Born in Seoul in 1955, Steel spent her childhood in Japan following her diplomat father before moving to the United States in 1975. She graduated from Pepperdine University with a degree in business administration and earned an MBA from the University of Southern California. Her parents were North Korean defectors who fled during the Korean War (1950-53).

Michelle Park Steel participates in a news conference held in California in 2020. [AP/YONHAP]

Turn to politics for Korean American advocacy

Steel was once a homemaker, but decided to enter the political scene after experiencing the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Witnessing the Korean American community suffer heavy losses while lacking political influence and a voice in mainstream U.S. society, she became determined to advocate for Korean American rights and political representation.

She began her political career in 1993 by joining Richard Riordan's campaign, then a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles. She later built her career from the ground up, serving as an elected member of the California State Board of Equalization and as the chair of the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

She was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020, defeating an incumbent Democratic lawmaker. Although she won re-election, she lost in the November 2024 election by about 600 votes.

Strong backing from Republican leadership

Despite failing to secure a third term, Steel maintains close ties with Republican leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Since the early days of the second Trump administration, major figures such as Johnson and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have reportedly recommended Steel to Trump as a candidate for U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

Trump has also shown strong support for Steel, describing her as an America First Patriot whose family bravely fled Communism in a social media post ahead of the 2024 election.

If Steel passes a Senate confirmation hearing and vote, along with receiving agrément from the South Korean government, she will become the second Korean American to serve as U.S. ambassador to South Korea, following Sung Kim, who served from 2011 to 2014. Given that Goldberg took about five months from nomination to official appointment, Steel is also expected to take several months to assume the post.

Michelle Park Steel, right, and Siobhan Steel arrive for the State Dinner with President Joe Biden and Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House on April 26, 2023. [AP/ YONHAP]

Fluent in three languages, strong political network

Steel’s appointment is expected to strengthen diplomatic channels between South Korea and the second Trump administration. She is fluent in Korean, English and Japanese, and has direct access to high-level U.S. political figures, including Trump.

During her time in Congress, she actively voiced support on issues related to the Korean Peninsula.

In March 2021, she condemned remarks by Harvard Law School professor John Mark Ramseyer that distorted the history of wartime sexual slavery, and called for a response at the federal level alongside other Korean American lawmakers.

In June of the same year, during the Covid-19 pandemic, she urged the U.S. government to expand vaccine supplies to allies, including Korea, emphasizing the need for stronger bilateral cooperation.

Michelle Park Steel, the nominee for the United States ambassador to Korea under the second Donald Trump administration [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Support for stronger Korea-U.S. ties, hard-line on China

In 2024, she co-sponsored legislation aimed at helping Korean Americans separated from family members in North Korea since the Korean War by requiring the U.S. State Department to collect and manage family information and support reunions.

At the time, she said that tens of thousands of Korean Americans remain separated from their families and stressed the urgency of facilitating reunions.

She has also taken a hard-line stance on China, including participation in the bipartisan House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and China in 2023 while serving in the House.

Given her track record of advocating for measures to counter China in areas such as the Indo-Pacific strategy and supply chain restructuring, and the Taiwan issue, experts say the Trump administration may expect her to play an active role in economic security diplomacy.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM HYOUNG-GU [[email protected]]