Julie J. Chung

Born in Seoul, South Korea,[5][6] Chung immigrated to California with her family in 1977 at the age of 5. Her father, Jay H. Chung (Korean: 정재훈; Hanja: 鄭載勳) is a space scientist. Her sister, Connie (Korean: 정윤경) served as a producer at a broadcast station in San Francisco.[1][6][2] As a native of Huntington Beach, California, Julie Chung received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego and an M.A. in International Affairs from the Columbia University.[4] She has learnt Cantonese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese,[7] Khmer, Spanish[4] and Thai.[8]

After joining the Foreign Service in 1996, Chung's first overseas post is a consular officer at the United States Consulate General Guangzhou. At the United States Embassy Tokyo, Japan, she worked as the bilateral trade officer for the civil aviation and automobile sectors. While posted to the Office of Korean Affairs, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP/K), she traveled frequently to Pyongyang, North Korea representing the U.S. working level group for the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO).[8] In April 2003, she served as Special Assistant for EAP to Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State. At the Embassy Hanoi, Vietnam, she acted as an Assistant Public Affairs Officer,[7] and later as a coordinator for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).[8] During her tenure as Deputy Political Counselor at the Embassy Bogota, Colombia, she managed the U.S. government's largest extradition program, as well as the United States representative to the Group of 24 (G-24). In Baghdad, Iraq, she served as Chief of Staff coordinating civilian-military foreign assistance with 13 agencies and sections.[4]

In August 2014, Chung was assigned to be the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) for the Embassy Phnom Penh.[8] In August 2017, she was transferred back to the U.S. to serve as the Director for the Office of Japanese Affairs (EAP/J).[9] and served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary from February–September 2018. Since November 2018, she assumed the position of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.[4]