Senate confirms Kurt Campbell as deputy secretary of state

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Joe Biden's top Asia aide, Kurt Campbell, as deputy secretary of state, as Washington keeps its strategic focus on the Indo-Pacific despite deepening instability in the Middle East and Russia's war in Ukraine. In a 92 to five vote, the Senate endorsed Campbell, currently the National Security Council coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, for the State Department's No. 2 post. He will succeed Wendy Sherman who retired in July. Biden nominated Campbell for the post in November, in an apparent show of his administration's steadfast focus on the Indo-Pacific, a region which it has cast as the "epicenter" of geopolitics in the 21st century. During his confirmation hearing in December, Campbell stressed the need to focus "even more" on deterrence against growing North Korean threats, noting Pyongyang continues to perfect its long-range weapons capabilities while shunning dialogue. Campbell has served as deputy assistant to the presid ent and coordinator for the Indo-Pacific since January 2021. From 2009 to 2013, he worked as the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. He is known to be an architect of the "Pivot to Asia" policy, also known as the "rebalancing policy," under the Barack Obama administration. The policy was designed to refocus on the Asia-Pacific region rising as a fulcrum of global power and wealth. Campbell has also been a key driver of the Biden administration's policy efforts to revitalize the U.S.' alliances and partnerships with Indo-Pacific countries, including South Korea and Japan. The efforts were highlighted by the strengthening of trilateral cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo. He is well-versed in Korean Peninsula affairs given his extensive experience related to Asia. Last July, he attended the inaugural meeting in Seoul of the Nuclear Consultative Group, a key deterrence dialogue body between the allies. Source: Yonhap News Agency