U.S. Ambassador (ret.) to South Korea
Ambassador (ret) Philip S. Goldberg retired in January 2025 after more than 35 years in the U.S. Foreign Service. Between 2022-2025, he served as United States Ambassador to South Korea. He served previously as Ambassador to the Philippines, Bolivia, and Colombia, and chief of the U.S. mission in UN-administered Kosovo. He served in Washington as Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research.
From June 2009 until June 2010, he was the coordinator for the implementation of UNSC Resolution 1874 (Sanctions) on North Korea. He has also been chargé d’affaires, a.i. at the U.S. embassies in Chile and Cuba. Ambassador Goldberg spent a year as Diplomat-in-Residence at Georgetown University. His other overseas tours include Bogota, Colombia, where he served as Coordinator of Plan Colombia, and as political-economic officer in Pretoria, South Africa in the years leading up to that country’s first democratic elections.
Ambassador 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 Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (1994-1996), Ambassador 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.
Ambassador Goldberg holds the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the U.S. 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 U.S. Intelligence Community.
On April 1, 2025, Ambassador Goldberg was appointed Distinguished Ambassador-in-Residence at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and advisor to the president of NYU on global issues.
