U.S. – South Korean Relations - U.S. Embassy & Consulate in the Republic of Korea

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Starting September 1, 2021, U.S. citizens traveling to Korea must have a valid visa or an approved Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) to enter Korea.

U.S. – South Korean Relations

Secretary Gordon Paddock, Minister Edwin Morgan and Vice Consul General Willard Straight, seated in the second row, pose for a photo with Legation staff in front of the Minister’s Residence (1904-1905). (Photo: Willard Dickerman Straight Collection, Cornell University Library)

U.S. – South Korean Relations

U.S. Relations With the Republic of Korea Chiefs of Mission for South Korea Timeline of U.S.-South Korean Relations

U.S. Relations With the Republic of Korea

The United States and Korea’s Joseon Dynasty established diplomatic relations under the 1882 Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, and the first U.S. diplomatic envoy arrived in Korea in 1883.

Purchased in 1884, the Minister’s (and later Ambassador’s) Residence had been in the possession of the United States Government longer than any other U.S. ambassador’s residence in the world before being rebuilt in 1974. Former American Minister to Korea Horace Allen wrote of it in 1908: “The native architecture was preserved as far as was possible to the intense delight of visitors of an artistic tempera-ment, who never fail to lavish praise over the effect of the beamed and raftered ceilings fully exposed, with neat white paper between the rafters.” (Above) The Minister’s Residence, ca. 1890. (Photo: U.S. National Archives)

Chiefs of Mission for South Korea

Lucius Harwood Foote (Photo: A Diplomat’s Helpmate by Mary Lawrence)

Timeline of U.S.-South Korean Relations

The United States sent its first envoy to South Korea in 1883. The United States led the U.N. coalition that fought a war to defend Korea after North Korea invaded it in 1950. Korea and the United States first signed a mutual defense treaty in 1953 and have worked closely together ever since to provide security in the region and combat global threats.

History