Philip S Goldberg served as US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea 2022-2025. He served as US Ambassador to Colombia. In 2018, Goldberg served as Charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba, followed by a year as a Diplomat in Residence at Georgetown University. From 2013-2016, Amb Goldberg served as US Ambassador to the Philippines. Prior to that assignment, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2010-2013); US Ambassador to Bolivia (2006-2008); Chief of Mission in Pristina, Kosovo (2004-2006); and Charge d’affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission in Santiago, Chile (2001-2004). From 2009-2010, Goldberg was coordinator for the implementation of UN sanctions on North Korea. His other overseas tours included Bogota, Colombia, where he served as the Plan Colombia coordinator, and Pretoria, South Africa.

Amb Goldberg was a senior member of the State Department team handling the transition from the Clinton to Bush administrations and served as acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs (2000-2001) and Special Assistant and Executive Assistant to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott (1996-2000). As the Bosnia Desk Officer and Special Assistant to Amb Richard Holbrooke (1994-1996), Goldberg was a member of the American negotiating team in the lead-up to the Dayton Peace Conference and Chief of Staff for the American delegation at Dayton.

Amb Goldberg holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the US Foreign Service. He has received numerous awards, including Presidential Distinguished and Meritorious Service Awards; the Department’s Distinguished Honor Award and the Silver Seal Medallion for Meritorious Service in the US Intelligence Community.

Amb. Goldberg is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Boston University. Before joining the Foreign Service, he served as a liaison officer between the government of the City of New York and the United Nations and Consular Community.

Michelle Ye Hee Lee is The Washington Post's Tokyo bureau chief, reporting on Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Previously, she covered money and influence in politics and voting access on the national political enterprise and accountability team and was a reporter for The Post's Fact Checker. Prior to joining The Post in 2014, she was a government accountability reporter at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix.