United States Embassy in Seoul

The Embassy of the United States in Seoul is the embassy of the United States in the Republic of Korea (South Korea), in the capital city of Seoul. The embassy is charged with diplomacy and South Korea–United States relations. The United States Ambassador to Korea is the head of the diplomatic mission of the United States to South Korea.

History

The United States has had diplomatic relations with Korea, with interruption, since the late 1870s.

Relations with nations not aligned with Qing Dynasty China were more or less unknown and not welcome before that time. As China's power began to seriously wane in the 1800s, and as Japan's power, and increasing industrialization was on the rise, Korea began to make changes and make overtures to other nations.



The first envoy from the U.S were sent to Seoul by the late 1870s. In 1883 the first Ambassador to the Joseon Dynasty Korea arrived in Seoul and an embassy of sorts began operation. Soon an embassy was run out of the Ambassador's residence, a villa given to the U.S. in 1888 by a Korean royal, located just behind the Deoksugung. This site is still owned by the U.S. government, and is the current site of the Habib House, the official ambassadorial residence of the U.S. Ambassador. The Habib House was built as a hanok (traditional Korean home) in 1974 and is named after Ambassador Philip Charles Habib.

The rise of the Empire of Japan as a great power began with the Japanese victory over China in the First Sino-Japanese War (1895)...
Read More