Julie Chung: US President Biden’s ambassador nominee for Sri Lanka

President Joe Biden has used his first major batch of foreign ambassador nominations to signal a desire to strengthen US relationships to deal with challenges in the Middle East, Central America and with Russia.

Biden also named ambassador picks to Sri Lanka, the Gambia, Guinea, Paraguay and Costa Rica, Reuters reported.

Nominees do not become ambassadors until they are confirmed by the US Senate.

Biden tapped Morgan Stanley vice-chairman Thomas Nides, onetime aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as ambassador to Israel, as the close US ally welcomes a new prime minister.

Nides’ nomination comes just two days after Israel’s parliament seated a new governing coalition led by nationalist Naftali Bennett, ending Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year run as prime minister.

Julie Chung, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, is the acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the US Department of State.

She was previously director of the Office of Japanese Affairs at the Department.

She has served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Economic Counselor at the US Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.

Earlier, Chung was Chief of Staff to the Transition Coordinator at the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

She has also served at the US embassies in Colombia, Vietnam and Japan, and the US Consulate General in Guangzhou, China. She is a Pickering Fellow.

Chung earned a B.A. at the University of California-San Diego and an M.A. at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Secretary’s Distinguished Honor Award. Chung speaks Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Khmer.