Marc Knapper's term ended on July 12, 2021.
Marc Knapper, a member of the Senior Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State, has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea and Japan since August 2018. Prior to assuming this position, Marc was in Seoul as Chargé d’Affaires from 2017 to 2018 and Deputy Chief of Mission from 2015 to 2016. Earlier assignments include Director for India Affairs, Director for Japanese Affairs, and multiple postings in Tokyo, Seoul, Hanoi, and Baghdad.
Marc has twice worked in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: in 1997 as the State Department representative to the Spent Fuel Team at the Yongbyon nuclear facility and in 2000 as a member of the advance team for then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s visit to Pyongyang.
Marc is a recipient of the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, the nation’s highest diplomatic honor. Marc has also received a Presidential Meritorious Service Award and the Department of State’s Linguist of the Year Award. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, and also studied at the University of Tokyo, Middlebury College’s intensive Japanese program, the Army War College, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Seminar XXI program. Mr. Knapper speaks Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese.