Korean born US Diplomat to head US Mission in Colombo

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US President Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate Julie Chung as the next US ambassador to Sri Lanka. Born in Seol, Korea, Julie is a Korean American diplomat and Acting Assistant Secretary for the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA), having previously served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary). Spending her first overseas assignment in Guangzhou, China, Chung has later served in several posts in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Colombia and Iraq.

Julie immigrated to California with her family in 1977 at the age of 5. Her father, Jay H. Chung is a space scientist. Her sister, Connie served as a producer at a broadcast station in San Francisco. As a native of Huntington Beach, California, Julie Chung received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego and an M.A. in International Affairs from the Columbia University. She has learnt Cantonese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Khmer, Spanish and Thai.

After joining the Foreign Service in 1996, her first overseas post was as a consular officer at the United States Consulate General Guangzhou, China. At the United States Embassy Tokyo, Japan, she worked as the bilateral trade officer for the civil aviation and automobile sectors.

In August 2014, she was assigned to be the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) for the Embassy Phnom Penh. In August 2017, she was transferred back to the U.S. to serve as the Director for the Office of Japanese Affairs (EAP/J) and served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary from February–September 2018. Since November 2018, she assumed the position of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.