Kathleen Stephens

Kathleen Stephens
United States Ambassador to South Korea
In office 2008–2011
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Preceded by	Alexander Vershbow
Succeeded by	Sung Kim
Personal details
Born	Texas, United States

Kathleen Stephens was the United States ambassador to South Korea from 2008 to 2011. She also served as the United States' chargé d'affaires to India from March to December 2014.

Stephens was born in west Texas and grew up in New Mexico and Arizona. She holds a B.A. in East Asian studies from Prescott College and a master's degree from Harvard University, and also studied at the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University. After college, she was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea's Yesan, South Chungcheong from 1975–1977; it was then that she was given her Korean name Shim Eungyeong (심은경). She speaks Korean and Serbo-Croatian, with limited competence in Cantonese and Mandarin.

Stephens grew up in the American Southwest and now lives in California.

Stephens joined the United States Foreign Service in 1978. Early in her career, Stephens served at U.S. missions in the People's Republic of China (1980–1982) and in Trinidad and Tobago (1978–1980). Her tour of duty in South Korea included roles as internal political unit chief at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul (1984–1987) and Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Busan (1987–1989). Afterwards, she worked as a political officer at the U.S. missions in Belgrade and Zagreb (1991–1992), senior desk officer for the United Kingdom in the Bureau of European Affairs (1992–1994), Director for European Affairs at the United States National Security Council, 1994–1995, Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1995–1998, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, 1998–2001, and Director of the Office of Ecology and Terrestrial Conservation at the United States Department of State, 2001-2003.

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