![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/news-p.v1.20260802.e2d8ac2c7abd47b895dc27980d0784c8_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"New")
Michelle Steel, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea (screen capture).<\/p>\nMichelle Steel, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea (screen capture).<\/p>\n
Michelle Steel, the new US Ambassador to South Korea, has visited Gwanghwamun Square and Namdaemun Market in quick succession soon after taking office, signaling her affinity for Korea.<\/p>\n
Steel, who took office on the 30th of last month, visited Gwanghwamun Square on the 31st and Namdaemun Market on the 1st. On her official X account, formerly Twitter, she wrote, “Old memories came flooding back at Namdaemun Market, which I revisited after a long time,” adding, “It is truly exciting to get to know Seoul again, a city that feels both familiar and new.” Steel is the first Korean-American woman to serve as US Ambassador to South Korea, born in Korea before emigrating to the United States.<\/p>\n
The photos she released showed her smiling while holding a hotteok, a sweet Korean pancake and a specialty of Namdaemun Market, and making a finger heart with her husband, attorney Shawn Steel. She also shared images of herself touring the market, including looking at supplies for her dog, which she brought with her to Korea.<\/p>\n
Earlier, at Gwanghwamun Square, she posted a photo taken in front of the statue of King Sejong the Great, writing, “Passing by the statue of King Sejong the Great, I was reminded once again of Korea’s remarkable legacy of innovation and leadership,” and, “I look forward to the journey we will build together. Please join me.”<\/p>\n
Diplomatic circles view Steel’s back-to-back visits to Seoul’s symbolic landmarks and a traditional market immediately after taking office as a move to broaden points of contact with the Korean public. During her time as a US Republican politician, she was known for her staunch conservative leanings, prompting some concerns about relations with the Korean government. But observers expect that, as ambassador, she will focus on managing the South Korea-US alliance and advancing bilateral relations. One diplomatic source said, “The role of a politician who must win voters’ choice and that of an ambassador who represents the United States are inevitably different.”<\/p>\n
On the day she arrived in Korea, Steel also visited Youngnak Presbyterian Church in Seoul. It is known as the church attended by her parents, who were displaced from their hometowns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michelle Steel, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea (screen capture). Michelle Steel, the new US Ambassador to South Korea,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11108,31448,9779,18391,6972,112,48938,55110],"class_list":["post-106835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-seoul","tag-gwanghwamun-square","tag-korea-us-relations","tag-korean-american","tag-michelle-steel","tag-namdaemun-market","tag-seoul","tag-us-ambassador-to-south-korea","tag-us-diplomacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}