Chung, Julie – Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka – August 2021

REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

UNITED STATES SENATE

SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)

POST:             Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

CANDIDATE:           Julie Jiyoon Chung

Julie Chung, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, was most recently the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.  She has repeatedly demonstrated her ability to lead diverse interagency teams effectively and to provide strong leadership even in extreme security environments.  As Chief of Staff in Baghdad, she coordinated civilian-military foreign assistance with thirteen agencies and sections, and managed the interagency Emergency Assistance Coordination Team in response to suicide bombings.  In Bogota, she managed the U.S. government’s largest extradition program, including paramilitary and narco-trafficking cases.  While working in the Office of Korean Affairs in Washington, she frequently traveled to North Korea to implement the U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework.  With extensive diplomatic experience across three geographic regions, Ms. Chung is well-qualified to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Ms. Chung was the Director and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Japan in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia and Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Thailand.  As the United States representative to the G24 in Bogota, she led initiatives focused on demining, labor, and human rights.  She was a public affairs officer in Vietnam, an economic officer in Japan, and a consular officer in Guangzhou, China.

Ms. 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, and is a Pickering Fellow.  She speaks Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Khmer.