North Korea fires two suspected ballistic missiles

By Kang Seung-woo

U.S. President Joe Biden nominated a former sanctions enforcer to be his first ambassador to South Korea, but it is too early to predict if the United States will return to a hardline stance against North Korea, according to diplomatic observers.

Philip Goldberg / Courtesy of U.S. Department of State

According to diplomatic sources, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg has been tapped to head the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and the South Korean government is now said to be in the process of granting an agrement, which refers to a state approval of accepting a member of a diplomatic mission from a foreign country.

Since the last U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Harry Harris, resigned and left the country on Jan. 20, 2021, the post has remained unfilled, with U.S. Charge d'Affaires to Korea Christopher Del Corso currently serving as acting ambassador.

News of Goldberg's nomination have fueled speculation in South Korea that the U.S. government will adopt a hardline policy toward Pyongyang, which has refused to return to the negotiating table and continued instead to test-fire ballistic missiles in a show of force. Such speculation is based on his past career as the coordinator for the implementation of United Nations (U.N.) sanctions on North Korea under the Barack Obama administration.

"I think the Biden administration has nominated a big shot among Career Ambassadors, the State Department's highest diplomatic rank, given his past overseas assignments, but given that his one-year tenure from 2009 to 2010 as coordinator for implementation of U.N. sanctions on North Korea, I think it is hasty to jump to conclusions that the U.S. will increase sanctions pressure on the North," said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.