The U.S. Senate confirmed Michelle Steel (70, born Park Eun-joo) as the new U.S. Ambassador to South Korea on Wednesday.
In a plenary session, the Senate voted on Steel’s nomination, approving it with 55 votes in favor and 39 against.
President Donald Trump nominated Steel for the ambassadorship on April 13, and the Senate confirmation process was completed in just over two months. Steel appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for her confirmation hearing on May 20 and cleared the committee on June 4 with a vote of 14 in favor and 8 against.
Steel will now assume her role as the first official U.S. Ambassador to South Korea in the Trump administration’s second term, pending President Trump’s formal appointment and the South Korean government’s agrément. She will be the second Korean American to serve in this position, following former Ambassador Sung Kim.
Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) crossed party lines to support her nomination, demonstrating bipartisan backing.
Born in Seoul in 1955, Steel grew up in Japan before immigrating to the United States in the mid-1970s.
Her political career includes serving as an Orange County supervisor and a member of the California State Board of Equalization. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in both 2020 and 2022 but lost her re-election bid in the 2022 midterms.
Steel is known as a prominent Korean American Republican who has been vocal on issues such as taking a tough stance on China and advocating for North Korean defectors’ human rights.
During her Senate confirmation hearing, Steel pledged to support South Korea’s investment commitments to the U.S. as outlined in the joint fact sheet agreed upon by both countries. She also vowed to address non-tariff barriers and discrimination faced by U.S. companies operating in South Korea.
Furthermore, Steel emphasized the importance of strengthening trilateral cooperation among the U.S., South Korea, and Japan to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.