US Nominates Ex-Envoy For North Korea Policy As Ambassador To Thailand After 6-Month Hiatus

Glyn Davies, a former U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, has been nominated by President Barack Obama as ambassador to Thailand, a position that has been vacant for six months, the White House announced Monday.

Davies is currently a senior adviser in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. He served as the U.S. envoy for North Korea policy-making from January 2012 through November 2014. The news comes amid strained relations between the U.S. and Thailand following the military coup against the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014 -- a move that was criticized by the Obama administration.

Davies will replace Kristie Kenney, who became the first female U.S. ambassador to Thailand and served in the position until November after being appointed in July 2010. Davies' appointment is yet to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

From 2009 through 2012, Davies served as the U. S. representative to the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Davies was a Senior Advisor at the Foreign Service Institute’s Leadership and Management School from 2005 to 2006; Acting Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in 2005; Deputy Assistant Secretary for European Affairs from 2004 to 2005; and Political Director for the U.S. Presidency of the G-8 from 2003 to 2004. He served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassy in London from 1999 through 2003.