Michael DeSomber, nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States. Screenshot from the Sullivan & Cromwell website.

Michael DeSomber, who is set to be the de facto head of Korean Peninsula diplomacy in the second term of the Donald Trump administration, has reportedly cleared the Senate confirmation process on the 7th (local time).

According to the U.S. Congress website on the 8th, the confirmation bill for nominee DeSomber was passed in a Senate vote the previous day with 51 yeas and 47 nays.

This marks DeSomber's assumption of office approximately seven months after being nominated for Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs by President Donald Trump in March.

The Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs oversees North and South Korea, China, Japan, ASEAN, and other regions. Therefore, he is expected to play a significant role if inter-Korean dialogue is pursued in the second Trump administration.

DeSomber served as the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand from March 2020, towards the end of the first Trump administration, until the end of President Trump's first term on January 20 of the following year.

Nominee DeSomber, whose wife is Korean, is known to be able to speak Korean conversationally and is also proficient in Chinese.

Yonhap News