Korean-American diplomat to start work in Foreign Ministry

A Korean-American diplomat will start her one-year stint at the Foreign Ministry this month as part of a Seoul-Washington diplomat exchange program, officials said Thursday.

The 37-year-old diplomat, Booyeon Lee Allen, will replace Dewey Moore, who was dispatched to the Seoul ministry a year ago as the first U.S. diplomat working in the local Foreign Ministry under the joint program.

“It has yet to be determined which department she will be placed in,” a ministry official said.

Allen previously served in the U.S. consulate general in Guangzhou, China before moving to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul in October, 2011.

The U.S. foreign service officer emigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was young and also worked in the media industry for several years upon college graduation there.

The outgoing diplomat will move to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul in late August, according to the ministry. (Yonhap News)