KEI Contributor

Marc E. Knapper is a member of the Senior Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State and the Ambassador to Vietnam.  He most recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea and Japan from August 2018 to July 2021.  Prior to assuming this position, Marc was Chargé d’Affaires ad interim in Seoul from 2017 to 2018 and Deputy Chief of Mission from 2015 to 2016.  Earlier assignments include Director for India Affairs, Director for Japan Affairs, and Seoul, Baghdad, Tokyo, and Hanoi.

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.  Marc speaks Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese.