Michelle Steel clears Senate panel for Seoul envoy post vacant for 1.5 years

The nomination of Michelle Steel, President Donald Trump's pick for US ambassador to South Korea, cleared a Senate committee, leaving only a full Senate vote before she can take up the post in Seoul.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 14-8 to advance Steel's nomination on Thursday, around two months after Trump nominated the former two-term Republican congresswoman from California on April 13.

If confirmed by the full Senate and formally appointed, Steel would fill a diplomatic post th