Ambassador nominee to South Korea, Michelle Steel. [Photo courtesy of Yonhap News/Reuters]

The nomination of Michelle Steel as the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea has passed the U.S. Senate.

The Senate approved Steel's nomination in a plenary session on the 17th (local time) with 55 votes in favor and 39 against.

This concludes all confirmation procedures for nominee Steel. She will subsequently receive her letter of appointment from U.S. President Donald Trump and then assume her post in South Korea.

The South Korean government has also granted "agrément," the host country's prior consent for diplomatic envoys, to nominee Steel.

Administrative procedures on both the South Korean and U.S. sides are effectively complete, leading to expectations that nominee Steel will assume her post by next month at the latest.

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official stated that the exact date of appointment depends on internal U.S. procedures, such as President Trump's issuance of the letter of appointment, and added, "We expect nominee Steel to contribute to strengthening ROK-U.S. relations upon her official appointment."

Nominee Steel was appointed on April 13th, and her confirmation hearing in the Senate was held on May 20th. Considering that there have been instances where confirmation hearings for presidential nominees have not been scheduled for months, the confirmation process for Steel has proceeded at a considerably rapid pace.

Ambassador Steel will be the second Korean-American to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, following Ambassador Sung Kim (who served from 2011 to 2014).

The position of U.S. Ambassador to South Korea has been vacant since the departure of former Ambassador Philip Goldberg, appointed during the Biden administration, in January of last year.

Nominee Steel, born in Seoul in 1955, is from an immigrant family that came to the United States in 1975. She has served as an elected member of the California State Board of Equalization and as an Orange County Supervisor. She then served as a Republican U.S. Representative for four years starting in 2021.