On the 30th, when newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Korea Michelle Steel set foot in Korea for the first time, people who opposed and welcomed her gathered at the arrival hall of Incheon International Airport.
That day, the progressive civic group "2026 Aug. 15 Sovereignty and Peace March Promotion Committee" held a press conference in front of the VIP room at Incheon Airport's Terminal 2 and said, "We strongly reject U.S. Ambassador to Korea Michelle Steel, who habitually infringes on sovereignty and threatens peace."
The group said, "The post of U.S. ambassador to Korea is supposed to peacefully and rationally coordinate and communicate on diplomatic pending issues between the United States and Korea, but Steel is a far-right politician who, as a spokesperson for the MAGA ("Make America Great Again") camp, has declared overt political intervention targeting the Korean government."
It added, "We can never accept a figure who, under the guise of diplomacy, undermines peace on the Korean Peninsula and shakes Korea's economic sovereignty solely for the interests of domestic corporations," and "Steel, who represents the far right and seeks to turn the Korean Peninsula into an arena of confrontation, is unqualified to serve as U.S. ambassador to Korea."
When Ambassador Steel stepped off the plane and appeared at the airport, the area around the arrival hall split in two: about 15 members of a progressive group rejecting the ambassador, and some 20 members of a conservative group holding the Stars and Stripes and the Taegeukgi in both hands.
At one point, when the progressive group staged a surprise protest in the parking area holding placards calling for the ambassador's resignation, the conservative group lodged fierce objections, and there were moments of frictional noise. However, no significant clashes occurred.
Police deployed 120 officers, including a mobile unit, to block the routes so the two groups would not mix, and focused on maintaining order by installing safety fences along key passageways.
With Ambassador Steel's formal assumption of duties, the post of U.S. ambassador to Korea, which had been vacant for about a year and a half since the start of the second Donald Trump administration, is finally being filled. The first Korean American woman to take the role, Steel previously served as a California State Board of Equalization Commissioner and as Orange County's chief administrative officer. She also served four years from 2021 as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives.