US President Joe Biden has nominated Marc Evans Knapper, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Japan and the Republic of Korea in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State, to be US ambassador to Viet Nam, according to a White House statement.

Marc Evans Knapper nominated to be US ambassador to Viet Nam (Source: yonhap)

Along with Knapper - a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, eight other diplomats have been nominated as ambassadors to represent the US in Somali, Algeria, Bahrain, Lesotho, Cameroon, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and the Republic of the Congo. 

Before assuming that position, Knapper was the Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the US Embassy in Seoul, the RoK, and, prior to that, was the Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission.  Earlier, Knapper was Director of the State Department’s Office of India Affairs and Director of the State Department’s Office of Japanese Affairs, the statement said.

His other assignments include leadership positions in the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, and the US Embassy in Tokyo, Japan.

Knapper earned his B.A. from Princeton University and his M.A. from the Army War College.

He speaks Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.

President Biden had earlier nominated outgoing US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Source: VNA