SEOUL - Thomas Hubbard, a career diplomat with long experiences and expertise on East Asian affairs, was officially nominated as President George W. Bush’s first ambassador to Seoul.

Hubbard, 58, who is concurrently principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, formerly served as ambassador to the Philippines from 1996 through 2000.

He is expected to assume the Seoul post in July after winning Senate approval. Former U.S. ambassador Stephen Bosworth left Seoul in February.

When he was deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 1993 to 1996, Hubbard led working-level negotiations with North Korea under the leadership of the then-U.S. pointman on North Korea, Ambassador Robert Gallucci, to create the 1994 Agreed Framework in Geneva. During the period, he visited the reclusive state several times for negotiations with North Korean officials.

He is expected to play a key liaison role in the Bush administration’s efforts to revise the deal that Republicans contended fails to adequately address international concerns on nuclear nonproliferation.

Since joining the State Department in 1965, Hubbard also served in such East Asian countries as Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Officials here view the appointment of the experienced diplomat as greatly contributing to maintaining consistency in bilateral relations between the United States and South Korea, especially at the transitional moment when the Republican administration is seeking to shed the legacies of the Clinton administration.

After the inauguration of the Bush administration, Hubbard first served as acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and then assumed his original post with the inauguration of James Kelly as assistant secretary of state.

In March, Hubbard visited Seoul to attend the three-way consultation meeting, called the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG), and met with senior Korean officials, including Foreign Affairs-Trade Minister Han Seung-soo.

Born in 1943 in Kentucky, Hubbard graduated from the University of Alabama in 1965. He is married to Joan Magnusson Hubbard. The couple has two grown children.