Michelle Steel, the Korean American ambassador who is the first US envoy to South Korea under the second Donald Trump administration, arrived in Korea on the 30th and said the South Korea-US alliance would be "stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever." The post of US ambassador to South Korea had been vacant for more than a year and five months since the departure of former Ambassador Philip Goldberg, who was appointed under the Joe Biden administration. With numerous difficult issues piling up between the two countries during that period, and with diplomatic difficulties arising from the absence of an ambassador who could closely coordinate bilateral affairs at the site nearest to Korea, expectations for the role of the new US ambassador to Korea are high. Steel will begin official activities after submitting her credentials to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs early next month.
Steel is known to be close enough with President Trump to communicate with him directly by phone. Born in Seoul, Steel began her political career in the United States and later served as a Republican member of the House of Representatives. She is fluent in Korean and has a deep understanding of the culture and history of both Korea and the United States, as well as the political situation. In that regard, she is being assessed as the right person to smoothly resolve issues between the two countries.
At present, numerous issues are piling up between South Korea and the United States, including US tariff policy and Korea's investment in the United States, the transfer of wartime operational control, uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing, and the construction of nuclear-powered submarines. There are also difficult problems causing diplomatic friction between the two countries that must be resolved, such as the Coupang case involving a personal data breach and issues under the Information and Communications Network Act. In this situation, the pace of negotiations on major agenda items between the two countries could accelerate depending on the role of a Korea-friendly ambassador with a solid political network within the United States.
Above all, it is important to speed up the sluggish security negotiations following the summit between President Lee Jae-myung and President Trump last November. As Steel also stressed that day that "In Gyeongju, President Trump and President Lee opened a new chapter in our alliance," negotiations related to investment in the United States, nuclear energy cooperation and the introduction of nuclear-powered submarines—agreed upon by the two leaders—must be launched in earnest. In addition, we hope Steel will listen sufficiently to Korea's position and serve as a bridge through which both Korea and the United States can achieve a win-win outcome. The government, too, should further broaden the scope of communication between the two countries through Steel, solidify the South Korea-US alliance in the face of uncertainty, and make choices that serve the national interest.
