Wendy Sherman is likely to rank top 2nd in U.S. State Department

Former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman will be nominated as Deputy Secretary of the State Department under the Biden administration, according to Politico and The Washington Post on Tuesday (local time). Due to her expertise in North Korea issues, Sherman served as a main player in negotiations with Washington and Pyongyang. If she becomes No. 2 in the State Department, she will lead Washington's policy toward North Korea, say experts.

Sherman worked as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs between 2011 and 2015 under the Obama administration and played a key part in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Nicknamed a diplomatic schemer for the then State Secretary Hillary Clinton, Sherman worked in tandem with her boss. Joining Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016, she was expected to be the most likely candidate for State Secretary.

Dating back to the Bill Clinton administration, Sherman worked as the North Korea policy coordinator under State Secretary Madeleine Albright from 1997 to 2001. When North Korean military official and Vice Marshal Cho Myong Rok visited Bill Clinton, she attended the meeting. Afterwards, she made a visit to Pyongyang with the state secretary to meet Kim Jong Il. Sherman got deeply involved in writing the US-DPRK Joint Communique along with then North Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Sok Ju.

Although Sherman, a dovish politician, engaged deeply in dialogue with North Korea, she turned into a hard-liner in retirement and stressed the necessity of all-out pressures on Pyongyang including military measures. She would once make harsh remarks by saying that Kim Jong Un should be called a murderous dictator.


lightee@donga.com