Seoul, Oct 1 Former South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha was formally appointed as South Korea's ambassador to the United States on Wednesday, becoming Seoul's first female envoy to Washington, according to the foreign ministry.
Kang, who served as South Korea's top diplomat from 2017 to 2021 under former President Moon Jae-in, has become the Lee Jae Myung administration's first ambassador to the US.
She has become South Korea's first female ambassador to the US, years after also serving as the country's first female foreign minister under the former Moon administration.
Experts said Kang is well fit for Seoul's top envoy in charge of close policy coordination with the United States, given growing expectations that North Korea and the US may resume dialogue.
She worked as the South's top diplomat at the height of summit diplomacy between North Korea and the US in 2018-19 during US President Donald Trump's first term.
Kang is widely expected to first coordinate Trump's upcoming trip to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and summit talks between Lee and Trump on the sidelines of the multilateral event.
As Seoul's top envoy, she also faces the daunting tasks of addressing key diplomatic challenges in a way that maximises the national interest, such as ongoing tariff negotiations with the US and Washington's drive for the "modernisation of the alliance."
Born in 1955, Kang graduated from Yonsei University in Seoul in 1977. She then received a doctorate in communications from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1984, Yonhap news agency reported.
She has extensive experience in working at the United Nations, especially in the field of human rights, including serving as the UN deputy high commissioner for human rights in 2007, and as the deputy emergency relief coordinator for humanitarian affairs in 2013.
Her immediate responsibilities will include facilitating the upcoming visit of US President Donald Trump and coordinating the South Korea-US summit, scheduled in conjunction with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Gyeongju starting on October 31. She will also need to lead negotiations on key bilateral issues such as tariffs, alliance modernisation, and amendments to the nuclear cooperation agreement, prioritising South Korea’s national interests.
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