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The U.S. Senate on Friday finally approved the nomination of Kathleen Stephens as U.S. ambassador to Korea. She arrives in Seoul in late August or in September.
But Stephens, who also has the Korean name Shim Eun-kyung, will not accompany Bush on his visit to Korea on Tuesday.
The confirmation came after Senator Sam Brownback, who had blocked Stephens' nomination over concerns about how human rights were being addressed in six-nation nuclear negotiations with North Korea, ended his resistance last Thursday.
In a statement, Brownback said, "At a hearing today of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Assistant Secretary Christopher Hill assured me that the U.S. will address North Korea's human rights abuses at the six-party talks. Because of this, I have decided to lift my objection to Ms. Stephens' nomination."
Brownback said he was ¡°heartened¡± that Hill, who is the chief U.S. negotiator in the six-party talks, pledged to discuss the issue in the normalization working group between the U.S. and North Korea within the context of the six-party talks, including specific cases like the abduction of the Rev. Kim Dong-shik, and invite the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights to future non-nuclear negotiations with the North.
Bush nominated Stephens as the first female U.S. ambassador to Seoul in January. Her nomination was approved by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations but its confirmation had been delayed by the full Senate for over three months due to opposition from some senators including Brownback.
Stephens acquired her Korean name when she lived in the country, initially teaching at a middle school in South Chungcheong Province as a member of the U.S. Peace Corps in the 1970s. She speaks fluent Korean and has a son with her former Korean husband. In the late 1980s, she worked at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul alongside Hill, who had strongly recommended her as the next U.S. ambassador.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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