Michelle Steel clears Senate Foreign Relations Committee, nears confirmation as US ambassador to South Korea

Michelle Steel's nomination as US ambassador to South Korea cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, leaving only a full Senate floor vote before her confirmation is complete.

The committee voted 14-8 to approve Steel's nomination. Once the full Senate confirms her, she will receive her commission from Donald Trump and take up her post in Seoul.

Steel was nominated by Trump on April 13, and her Senate confirmation hearing opened May 20. Many nominees wait months before a hearing is even scheduled, making her confirmation process notably swift by comparison.

At her Senate hearing, Steel said a strong trilateral alliance among South Korea, the United States and Japan was essential. The bilateral US-South Korea and US-Japan relationships have traditionally been described as "alliances," while the three-way relationship has typically been characterized in lower-tier terms such as "cooperation" or "coordination." Steel's framing appeared to signal that she favors deeper trilateral engagement, with China and North Korea in mind.

If confirmed, Steel would become the second Korean American to serve as US ambassador to South Korea, after Sung Kim in 2011. The post has been vacant since Philip Goldberg, appointed under the Joe Biden administration, departed in January last year. Steel served four years as a Republican member of the House of Representatives beginning in 2021 but lost her reelection bid in the November 2024 election.