[Getty Images]
[Getty Images]

Michelle Steel, 70, the incoming US ambassador to South Korea, introduced herself to the Korean public Wednesday through a social media video posted before her arrival.

The US Embassy in Seoul released the greeting video on its social media accounts, writing: "Introducing Ambassador Michelle Steel."

In the clip, Steel addressed viewers in fluent Korean, opening with "Annyeonghaseyo, yeoreobun" — "Hello, everyone."

"It is a great honor to be appointed as the next US ambassador to South Korea," she said. "I look forward to meeting you all in person soon."

The embassy added that Steel is expected to arrive in Seoul soon and looks forward to further strengthening ties between the two countries.

[Getty Images]
[Getty Images]

Steel was formally appointed after President Donald Trump nominated her in April and the US Senate confirmed her last month. South Korea's government also completed its agrément process — the host country's formal consent to receive a foreign envoy.

She is the first woman of Korean descent to serve as US ambassador to South Korea, and only the second Korean American to hold the post, following Sung Kim, who served from 2011 to 2014.

The ambassadorship had been vacant since the start of Trump's second administration, with a chargé d'affaires handling duties in the interim. Steel's arrival ends an 18-month gap in the post.

Steel served as an Orange County, California, supervisor before winning election to the US House of Representatives as a Republican in 2020. She was reelected in 2022 but lost her seat in the 2024 election.

[Getty Images]
[Getty Images]

Born in Seoul in 1955 as Park Eun-joo, Steel spent her middle and high school years in Japan before moving to the United States in 1975. Her parents were displaced persons who fled North Korea during the Korean War and took refuge in Busan.

Steel had been a homemaker when the 1992 Los Angeles riots prompted her to enter politics, convinced that Korean Americans needed a voice in government. At her Senate confirmation hearing, she summed up her life journey in Korean with the phrase "goosaeng kkeute nagi onda" — "after hardship comes joy."


ygmoon@heraldcorp.com