Michelle Park Steel [EPA=Yonhap News Photo]

The confirmation hearing for Michelle Steel (70, Korean name Park Eun-ju), the nominee for the first Ambassador to Korea in a potential second Trump administration, will be held on the 20th (local time).

According to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations website on the 14th, the committee is scheduled to hold Steel's hearing on May 20th.

Steel's hearing will be held alongside those for Ambassador nominees to Norway, Michael Mabusyan, and State Department Legal Advisor Brock Dal, among others.

Ambassadors to foreign countries require confirmation from the U.S. Senate. After passing the relevant standing committee hearing and a vote by the committee members, the nominee must also be approved by the full Senate.

Assuming the nomination is smoothly approved, and considering the schedule after the hearing, Steel could potentially assume the role of U.S. Ambassador to Korea as early as June.

The position of Ambassador to Korea has been vacant for over a year since the departure of former Ambassador Philip Goldberg, who was appointed during the previous Biden administration, in January of last year.

The first Korean-American to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Korea was Sung Kim (2011-2014).

President Donald Trump nominated Steel as Ambassador to Korea on the 13th of last month.

Born in Seoul in 1955, Steel is from an immigrant family that came to the United States in 1975.

She served as an elected member of the California Board of Equalization and as an Orange County Supervisor before serving as a Republican U.S. Representative for four years starting in 2021.

After narrowly losing her bid for re-election to the House of Representatives in the 2024 presidential election, which coincided with President Trump's victory, she has consistently been mentioned as a candidate for Ambassador to Korea.