KB News Desk
President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday welcomed and received a letter of credence from new US Ambassador to South Korea Michelle Steel during their first meeting since her arrival in Seoul.
Steel and three other newly appointed foreign ambassadors presented their credentials to Lee during a ceremony at the presidential office. Also in attendance were Vanda Maria Dias Stelzer Sequeira of Portugal, Jamal Abdullah Al Suwaidi of the United Arab Emirates and Sean Hoy of Ireland.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, Lee welcomed Steel and expressed the hope that she will act as a bridge between Seoul and Washington in strengthening the alliance and in resolving outstanding issues through “more proactive dialogue and cooperation.”
Steel arrived in South Korea on July 30 after being nominated by US President Donald Trump in April. She was confirmed by the US Senate on June 17. She is the second Korean American to serve as US ambassador to South Korea, following Sung Kim, who served from 2011 to 2014.
Her appointment filled a post that has been left vacant since January 2025, as the allies deal with a broad range of pending issues, including South Korean investment in the United States, tariffs, civilian nuclear cooperation and Seoul’s push to build nuclear-powered submarines.
In addition to ongoing bilateral issues, Steel is likely to seek to address issues surrounding the e-commerce giant Coupang. During her Senate confirmation hearing in May, she said that she would directly address “discriminatory” treatment of US companies in Korea.
Coupang currently faces a fine of more than 600 billion won ($423.9 million) for a major data breach incident. The data breach and the ensuing probe have since spilled into the political and diplomatic arenas, with some US lawmakers accusing Seoul of discriminating against a US company.
Born in Seoul in 1955, Steel immigrated to the United States with her family in the mid-1970s. Before serving as a Republican member of the US House of Representatives from 2021 to 2025, she held several public positions, including as a member of California’s State Board of Equalization and as co-chair of President Trump’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
