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Georgetown University professor Victor Cha

The US has reportedly nominated Victor Cha, a hardliner on North Korea, to be US Ambassador to South Korea and requested the South Korean government for its consent by requesting “agrément” (diplomatic approval by the host country.) Cha is the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a professor at Georgetown University.

An official at South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Dec. 11 that the US government had sent a request for agrément by way of the US Embassy to South Korea.

“It’s unusual for agrément to be requested even before [the ambassador’s] nomination has been announced. Once agrément is given, [the US government] will probably make its official announcement right away,” said a diplomatic source. It is widely assumed at the Foreign Ministry that agrément will be given quickly since the US is one of South Korea’s closest allies. Seoul reportedly could provide agrément for Cha as early as next week.

Reports suggest that the US government basically settled on Cha as the ambassador to South Korea sometime between June and August and has been vetting him during the intervening months. Cha was appointed the director for Asian affairs at the White House’s National Security Council (NSC) in Dec. 2004, under President George W. Bush, and he also served as the US’s deputy head of delegation at the Six-Party Talks. In April 2007, he accompanied New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on a trip to North Korea to discuss solutions to the North Korean nuclear program.

Born to South Korean immigrants to the US in 1959, Cha graduated from the department of economics at Columbia University and has since received a Master’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford and a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia. He has published a number of books, including “Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle” and “Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies.”

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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