Julie Chung is currently the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Japan in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. She assumed her position as Director of the Office of Japanese Affairs in August 2017. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, she has served previously as Deputy Chief of Mission in Cambodia and Economic Counselor in Thailand. From 2009-2010, Ms. Chung served as the Chief of Staff for Transition in Baghdad coordinating civilian-military foreign assistance. While working on the Korea Desk in Washington, she traveled to Pyongyang multiple times and coordinated programs with the Korean Energy Development Organization. As an Economic officer in Tokyo, she worked closely with the private sector to advocate for the civil aviation and automobile industries. She has also served in Bogota, Hanoi, and Guangzhou. She received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California San Diego and an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University. Her foreign languages include Japanese, Korean, Khmer, and Spanish.