Sung Kim, 51, the Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks, is reported to have been nominated to succeed Kathleen Stephens as the U.S. Ambassador to Korea. Kim is currently awaiting approval of the Senate and the recipient country, but Korean news sources have already published congratulatory articles to celebrate the potential appointment. According to Korean JoongAng Daily, Kim, if confirmed, will take office as early as this August, becoming the first ethnically Korean official to assume the position since the beginning of diplomatic relations with Korea in 1882.

Kim’s personal and professional ties to Korea seem to have played to his favor in his nomination, especially as North Korea has become a growing concern. With his background as head of Office of Korean Affairs and as the chief of political-military affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Kim is deemed well prepared to foster positive relations with Korea. JoongAng Daily also reported that in addition to his professional accomplishments in East Asia, Kim spent his childhood years in Korea before emigrating to the U.S. with his father in the mid-70s and acquiring citizenship. As a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Loyola Law School, Kim began his career as a public prosecutor in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office before entering Foreign Service.

The news of Kim’s nomination has especially caught the attention of Korean citizens because of his familial relations to well-known Korean personalities, such as singer Yim Jae Beom and former executive director of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Yim Taik Keun.

[Photo of Sung Kim: Yonghap News]

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