New US Ambassador Steel to arrive in Korea this week amid pileup of bilateral issues

New U.S.

Ambassador to Korea Michelle Steel is set to arrive in Seoul this week to assume her post, sources said Monday, which has remained vacant for about one and a half years since the launch of U.S.

President Donald Trump's second administration.

Steel is scheduled to arrive in Korea on Thursday, and the submission of her credentials is expected to take place as early as next week after Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and the foreign ministry's chief of protocol return from accompanying President Lee Jae Myung on his trip to South America, according to the sources.

Before formally beginning their duties, newly appointed foreign ambassadors are required to present copies of their credentials to the chief of protocol at the foreign ministry.

U.S. ambassadors also traditionally pay a courtesy call on the foreign minister on that occasion.

The ambassadorial post has remained vacant since former U.S.

Ambassadorip Goldberg left Korea in January last year.

A Korean American Republican politician, Steel was born in Seoul in 1955 and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1970s.

She served two ...