Senate approves US envoy to SKorea
WASHINGTON --The Senate on Friday approved President Bush's nominee for U.S. ambassador to South Korea, clearing the way for the new envoy to be in place when Bush visits the U.S. ally next week.
The approval came after Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., lifted a "hold" that had been blocking D. Kathleen Stephens' nomination because of the senator's concerns about how human rights were being addressed in North Korean nuclear negotiations.
Brownback removed his block after the chief U.S. envoy at the nuclear talks, Christopher Hill, strongly criticized North Korea's human rights record at a Senate hearing Thursday and pledged to confront North Korea over abuse.
Stephens served as political adviser and principal deputy assistant secretary of state in the State Department's East Asian affairs bureau, headed by Hill. She replaces Alexander Vershbow, who has served as ambassador since 2005.
Her appointment as ambassador, and Bush's trip to South Korea, comes at a tense time in U.S.-South Korean ties.
The pro-U.S. government of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak recently faced tens of thousands of protesters after it agreed to a U.S. demand to resume importation of American beef that had been halted over fears of mad cow disease.
After widespread anger in South Korea, and pressure from Seoul, the Bush administration this week reversed a decision to change the national classification of islands at the center of a territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea.
The administration reversed the U.S. Board of Geographic Names' decision to change the islands' listing from South Korean to "nondesignated sovereignty." The tiny rocky outcroppings have long been a source of discord between Seoul and its former colonial ruler Tokyo.
The U.S. and South Korea are part of ongoing international efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons. 