The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations voted 14-8 on Thursday to advance Steel’s nomination, moving her one step closer to taking up the post in Seoul. If confirmed by the Senate, Steel will receive her formal appointment from Trump before assuming the ambassadorial post.
Steel was nominated on April 13, and her Senate confirmation hearing was held on May 20. The process has moved relatively quickly, compared with cases in which nominees have waited months for confirmation hearings after being tapped by the president.
At her confirmation hearing, Steel emphasized the need for a strong trilateral alliance among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Her use of the word “alliance” drew attention, as relations among the three countries are more commonly described as cooperation or coordination, unlike the formal alliances between Seoul and Washington and between Washington and Tokyo.
If confirmed, Steel would become the second Korean American to serve as U.S. ambassador to South Korea, following Sung Kim, who served in Seoul from 2011 to 2014.
Steel, a Republican, served in the U.S. House of Representatives for four years from 2021 before narrowly losing her reelection bid in November 2024. The ambassadorial post in Seoul has remained vacant since Philip Goldberg, who was appointed under the Biden administration, left the post in January last year.
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