The South Korean ambassador to the United States () is the chief diplomatic representative of the Republic of Korea accredited to the United States.
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 who established diplomatic relationship with the U.S. in 1882 and that as both South and North Korea stemmed from Kingdom of Joseon 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: and Although Chang Myon is officially recorded as the first ambassador serving from February 1949, Chough Pyung-ok was recognized in August 1948 as the Special Representative of the President of South Korea 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 (e.g., Ahn Ho-young, Choi Young-jin, and Lee Tae-sik), or in high government positions such as Prime Minister and head of the Finance Ministry (e.g., Han Duck-soo) 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 while in office.
Ambassadors # Name Took office Left office Appointer 1 Chang Myon 장면 February 2, 1949 February 1951 Syngman Rhee 2 Yang You-chan 양유찬 April 30, 1951 April 29, 1960 3 Chung Il-kwon 정일권 June 8, 1960 September 1960 4 Chang Lee-wook 장이욱 December 5, 1960 June 1961 Yun Posun 5 Chung Il-kwon 정일권 June 30, 1961 April 1963 Park Chung Hee 6 Kim Chung-yul 김정열 June 14, 1963 October 1964 7 Kim Hyun-chul 김현철 December 15, 1964 October 1967 8 Kim Dong-jo 김동조 November 9, 1967 December 1973 9 Hahm Pyong-choon 함병춘 February 1, 1974 early 1976 10 Kim Yong-shik 김용식 May 13, 1977 June 1981 11 Lew Byong-hion 류병현 September 21, 1981 November 1985 Chun Doo-hwan 12 Kim Kyung-won 김경원 November 9, 1985 April 1988 13 Park Tong-jin 박동진 July 5, 1988 March 1991 Roh Tae-woo 14 Hyun Hong-choo 현홍주 April 11, 1991 April 1993 15 Han Seung-soo 한승수 June 23, 1993 December 23, 1994 Kim Young-sam 16 Park Kun-woo 박건우 January 17, 1995 April 27, 1998 17 Lee Hong-koo 이홍구 April 28, 1998 August 1, 2000 Kim Dae-jung 18 Yang Sung-chul 양성철 September 5, 2000 April 16, 2003 19 Han Sung-joo 한승주 April 20, 2003 February 15, 2005 Roh Moo-hyun 20 Hong Seok-hyun 홍석현 February 22, 2005 September 23, 2005 21 Lee Tae-sik 이태식 October 14, 2005 February 27, 2009 22 Han Duck-soo 한덕수 March 9, 2009 February 17, 2012 Lee Myung-bak 23 Choi Young-jin 최영진 March 8, 2012 May 28, 2013 24 Ahn Ho-young 안호영 June 5, 2013 October 20, 2017 Park Geun-hye 25 Cho Yoon-je 조윤제 November 14, 2017 October 20, 2019 Moon Jae-in 26 Lee Soo-hyuck 이수혁 October 25, 2019 May 26, 2022 27 Cho Tae-yong 조태용 June 11, 2022 March 29, 2023 Yoon Suk Yeol 28 Cho Hyun-dong 조현동 April 12, 2023 July 12, 2025 29 Kang Kyung-wha 강경화 October 6, 2025 Present Lee Jae Myung
References
See also Embassy of South Korea, Washington, D.C. Ambassador of the United States to South Korea Ambassadors of the United States Foreign relations of South Korea South Korea–United States relations