▲ Korean American Rep. Michelle Park Steel is seen in this photo, captured from her Facebook account. U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated the former two-term Republican lawmaker from California as the United States' top envoy to South Korea, a presidential nomination document showed April 13, 2026. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

US envoy-confirmation hearing

U.S. Senate to hold confirmation hearing for ambassador nominee to S. Korea next week

SEOUL, May 14 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Senate plans to hold a confirmation hearing next week for Michelle Steel, a Korean American nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump as ambassador to South Korea, according to the Senate website Thursday.

According to the website of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the committee is scheduled to hold Steel's confirmation hearing on Wednesday (local time).

Last month, Trump tapped Steel, a former two-term Republican lawmaker from California, for the post, which has remained vacant since former Ambassador Philip Goldberg departed Seoul in January last year.

If the nomination process proceeds smoothly, Steel could arrive in Seoul as early as June, officials said.

Steel, if confirmed, would become the second Korean American to serve as the United States' top envoy to Seoul, following former Ambassador Sung Kim, who served from 2011 to 2014.

Born in Seoul in 1955 under the Korean name Park Eun-joo, Steel immigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1975. She speaks fluent Korean.

During Trump's first term, she served on the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Steel was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2020 and reelected in 2022 before narrowly losing her reelection bid in 2024.

After Goldberg left the post, former U.S. special representative for North Korea policy Joseph Yun served as acting ambassador, followed by Kevin Kim, a former deputy assistant secretary at the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and James Heller, the current charge d'affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.

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