Obama taps 4 public servants to be ambassadors

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is picking four longtime public servants to be his new ambassadors to South Korea, Honduras, Qatar (GUH'-tur) and Kazakhstan (kah-zahk-STAHN').

The White House said Thursday that Mark Lippert is Obama's choice for Korea. Lippert served in the Navy in Iraq and Afghanistan and is now a deputy secretary of defense. He was a foreign policy adviser on Obama's first presidential campaign.

Obama is also tapping veteran diplomats James Nealon for Honduras and Dana Smith for Qatar. Nealon served in Europe, South America and Asia, while Smith is a high-ranking State Department official and former Arabic spokeswoman for the U.S. in Dubai (doo-BY').

Obama is asking Ambassador George Krol to relocate to Kazakhstan. Currently, Krol is Obama's ambassador to Uzbekistan (ooz-behk-ih-STAHN').

All of the positions require Senate confirmation.