On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Michelle Park Steel (70, Korean name: Park Eun-ju) as the first U.S. Ambassador to South Korea in his second administration. Steel is recognized as a prominent Korean-American politician within the Republican Party and a staunch Trump supporter.
Born in Seoul in June 1955, Steel grew up in Japan before immigrating to the U.S. with her family in the mid-1970s when she was in her twenties. She is known to be fluent in both Korean and Japanese.
Steel earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Pepperdine University and an Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Southern California (USC) in 2010. She built her political career through local, state, and federal positions.
Steel reportedly decided to enter politics after recognizing the need for political representation within the Korean-American community following the 1992 Los Angeles riots. She began her political journey by joining Richard Riordan’s campaign during the 1993 Los Angeles mayoral election.
From 2007 to 2015, she served as a commissioner for the California Board of Equalization and held positions as a supervisor and board chair for Orange County from 2015 to 2020.
Steel won consecutive elections for the U.S. House of Representatives in California in 2020 and 2022, making her mark on the national political stage. Notably, she won six consecutive elections in a traditionally Democratic stronghold, earning her the moniker Queen of Elections.
In the 2024 election, she narrowly lost her bid to represent California’s 45th district by about 600 votes.
Steel is married to Shawn Steel, with whom she has two daughters. They have resided in Surfside, California. Shawn Steel, a former chair of the California Republican Party and a lawyer, has been considered a crucial political foundation for Michelle Steel’s career.
Her parents were displaced persons from North Korea, and this family background is believed to have significantly influenced Steel’s political identity and policy positions.
In fact, she once stated on her Facebook page that her parents escaped from North Korea and lost everything due to socialism. This experience is why she fights to defend freedom.
This perspective has shaped her legislative activities, where she has consistently taken a hardline stance against the Chinese Communist Party, raised issues regarding the human rights of North Korean defectors, and called for the closure of Confucius Institutes.
During her tenure in the House of Representatives, she actively pursued legislation related to Korea.
She introduced a bill supporting family reunions for those separated by the Korean War, urged for an expansion of COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Korea, and took the lead in addressing historical distortions regarding the comfort women issue.
Additionally, she participated in efforts to promote resolutions aimed at resolving the forced repatriation and human rights violations of North Korean defectors in China.
In 2021, she joined Republican lawmakers in criticizing the Moon Jae-in administration’s push for a declaration to end the Korean War.
While serving on the House’s China Select Committee in 2023, she emphasized her commitment to holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable for human rights abuses and intellectual property theft, underscoring a tough stance on China.
Steel has maintained a close political relationship with President Trump.
During the 2024 election, Trump publicly supported Steel, stating on social media that her family are patriots who escaped communism.
Additionally, she served as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Advisory Committee during Trump’s first term, providing policy advice.
Given this background, Steel has long been mentioned as a potential candidate for U.S. Ambassador to South Korea following Trump’s return to power.
Observers in Washington, D.C., believe that this appointment could lead to a Trump-style diplomatic approach that emphasizes managing the U.S.-South Korea alliance while taking a tougher stance on China.
However, Steel has consistently emphasized the importance of the U.S.-South Korea alliance regardless of political inclinations, reportedly stating that cooperation must continue irrespective of the Korean government’s stance.
If she passes Senate confirmation, she will serve as a diplomat representing the U.S. and will fill the vacancy of the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea that has persisted for over a year, becoming the second Korean-American to hold this position after former ambassador Sung Kim.