Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) speaks during a press conference at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles on Feb. 20, 2025. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Monday nominated former Rep. Michelle Steel, among the first Korean American women elected to Congress, as ambassador to South Korea. Her confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate has not been scheduled. The post has been vacant since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Steel, a Seoul-born Republican, receives the nomination as South Korea deals with the threat of North Korea’s ongoing nuclear ambitions.
She immigrated to the United States at age 19, receiving a bachelor’s degree from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, then a master’s in business administration from the University of Southern California. She served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing California’s 48th and 45th congressional districts, from 2021 to 2025.
Before being elected to Congress, she served on the Orange County Board of Supervisors and California State Board of Equalization.
“From the moment I came to the United States, I knew that giving back to the country that welcomed me with open arms would be part of my future,” Steel wrote in a statement when conceding her 2024 congressional race. “Because of the opportunities offered by this great country, and God’s great blessings, I was able to go to college, start a family, and build my own American Dream. I embarked on a mission to assist First Generation Americans, stand up to our adversaries, and defend human rights.”
On Capitol Hill, Steel was a vocal advocate for human rights and an ardent critic of the Chinese Communist Party.
“We really have to watch what China is doing,” Steel told The Epoch Times in March 2021. “We should let [the Chinese regime] know that you should stop abusing these people and harassing your own citizens.”
She also condemned China’s organ harvesting.
“Prisoners, organ harvesting, that’s never—in other countries—never heard of.”
Steel was instrumental in facilitating former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s 2023 address to a joint session of Congress.
“Korea is my motherland, and of course, I am a proud American citizen here, and I just love this country,” Steel said. “What could I ask for more? It was the greatest moment.”
Steel, 70, has also been open about her desires for the Korean Peninsula broadly.
“I am hopeful that diplomatic progress can be made with North Korea taking steps toward denuclearization,” she said. “And that starts with the United States engaging in initial talks with both Koreas.”
After winning reelection in 2022 in a contentious campaign, she was defeated in November 2024 by Democratic challenger Derek Tran in the 45th Congressional District.
Trump called Steel “an America First Patriot” during her 2024 reelection campaign.
In 1981, Steel married Shawn Steel, the Republican National Committeeman from California since 2008. The couple have two daughters and reside in Seal Beach, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.