The South Korean ambassador to the United States () is the chief diplomatic representative of the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its east ...

accredited to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. After the independence of Korea from Japanese rule in 1945, and the founding of Republic of Korea (South Korea) in 1948, South Korea immediately restored normal diplomatic relationship with the United States and has since been sending ambassadors to the United States.Some might argue that it was

Kingdom of Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

who established diplomatic relationship with the U.S. in 1882 and that as both South and North Korea stemmed from

South Korea's diplomatic relations with the U.S. should begin in 1948 instead of 1882. Although this may be technically correct, as a matter of fact both South Korea and the U.S. consider their initial diplomatic relationship established in 1882, the evidence of which can be found from these websites

an

/ref> Although Chang Myon is officially recorded as the first ambassador serving from February 1949,

Chough Pyung-ok Chough Pyung-ok (also Cho Pyung-ok or Cho Byeong-ok; 1894 – 1960) was a South Korean politician. He ran against incumbent president Syngman Rhee in the 1960 presidential election but died on February 15, one month before the election on ...

was recognized in August 1948 as the Special Representative of the

President of South Korea The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...

with a personal rank of Ambassador. Chang replaced Chough in January 1949 in the same capacity, and was appointed as the first ambassador the following month. South Korea has so far sent twenty-four ambassadors to the United States, excluding 2 Chargé d'affaires a.i. (Koo Chong-whay and Oh Jay-hee). As Chung Il-kwon served twice as the third and fifth ambassador, a total of twenty-three different people have served in the position. Reflecting the United States' significance to South Korea's diplomacy, almost all of these ambassadors have been chosen from elites in their respective fields. For instance, the four most recent ambassadors have all been either career diplomats who had served in the high levels of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

(e.g.,

Ahn Ho-young Ahn Ho-young (born July 5, 1956) is a South Korean diplomat who was the South Korean ambassador to the United States from 2013 to 2017. Ahn joined the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979 after graduating with a political science b ...

, Choi Young-jin, and Lee Tae-sik), or in high government positions such as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

and head of the

Finance Ministry A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

(e.g.,

Han Duck-soo Han Duck-soo (; born 18 June 1949) is a South Korean politician serving as the 44th and current Prime Minister of South Korea since May 2022. Han is the fifth person to serve as the prime minister twice having served as the 38th Prime Minister ...

) before being appointed to Washington, D.C. A complete list of ambassadors is provided below in the order of appointment. All held the title of

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

while in office.

Ambassadors

References

See also