Jim Zumwalt began his tour as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Japan and Korean affairs on January 3, 2012. He previously served as the Embassy Tokyo’s Deputy Chief of Mission.
Jim was Director of the Office of Japanese Affairs in the Department of State, Washington, D.C. (2006-2008) and has served prior assignments in Japan, as Economic Minister Counselor (2002-2006), Embassy Tokyo Economic Officer (1989-1993) and Consulate Kobe Consular Officer (1983-85). His other assignments abroad have been as Economic Minister-Counselor in Embassy Beijing (1999-2002) and as Economic Officer in Embassy Kinshasa (1981-83).
In Washington, D.C., Jim has previously worked in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Korea and Philippine desks, and in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Front Office. He has also worked in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs and on a detail to the United States Trade Representative's Office of Japan and China. Jim is fluent in Japanese and also speaks some Chinese and French.
Jim received a master's degree in International Security Studies from the National War College in 1998 and a bachelor of arts in American History and also in Japanese Language from U.C. Berkeley in 1979. He is from El Cajon, California.
