United States Pres. Barrack Obama expressed his intent to nominate a former envoy to South Korea, Sung Y. Kim, as new ambassador to the Philippines according to the announcement released to the media by the White House. Ambassador Sung Y. Kim is a career member of the US Foreign Service and is a Special Representative for North Korea Policy.
The new ambassador to the Philippines, Ambassador Sung Y. Kim has been the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State since the year 2014. The newly-appointed Philippine ambassador also served as US envoy to South Korea during the year 2011 to 2014.
Ambassador Sung Y. Kim will replace the US ambassador to the Philippine Philip Goldberg accordin to the White House announcement. Before getting an appointment from US Pres. Barrack Obama, the new US envoy served as special envoy for the Six Party Talks from the year 2008 to 2011, director of the Office of Korean Affairs in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs from 2006 to 2008, and political-military chief at the US embassy in Seoul, Korea from 2002 to 2006.
The US ambassador was born in Seoul, Korea and was raised in Los Angeles, California. Ambassador Kim completed degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the Loyola University, and obtained a Master of Laws degree from the London School of Economics.
Aside from the new US ambassador to the Philippines, Pres. Barrack Obama also nominated the following people to key administration posts:
Ysaÿe M. Barnwell – Member, National Council on the Arts
Daniel Becker – Member, Board of Directors of the State Justice Institute
Rena Bitter – Ambassador to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Department of State
Anne S. Casper – Ambassador to the Republic of Burundi, Department of State
Geoffrey R. Pyatt – Ambassador to Greece, Department of State
Douglas Silliman – Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq, Department of State
Marie L. Yovanovitch – Ambassador to Ukraine, Department of State
According to the White House the appointment made by Pres. Barrack Obama will be subject to US Senate confirmation.