The state visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to Washington this week was a chance for the U.S. and South Korea to reaffirm their long alliance. But for one California congresswoman, the visit also had personal significance.

“I am a very proud Korean American, and I am an American, so I love this country,” said Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Calif., in an interview Thursday with Spectrum News. "But ... my motherland, South Korea, is very important to me."

Steel became one of the first three Korean American women elected to Congress when she won her seat in the California 48th, and is currently serving in her second term in the 45th district due to redistricting. Her parents fled communist North Korea, and Steel was born in South Korea, before finishing middle and high school in Japan. She immigrated to the United States when she was 19.

“Not every country’s president that visits here doesn’t mean they are all speaking on the floor in a joint session,” said Steel. “This president [Yoon] cares about human rights violations and he really wants to build stronger relationships between the United States and Korea.”

That’s why it was so important to Steel that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., extended an invitation to President Yoon to address a joint session of Congress during his visit to Washington.

“I went to [McCarthy] and I said, ‘Speaker, I need a couple of minutes from you,’” she recalled. “I said, ‘you know, the Korean President is visiting, and I really want him to speak.’ He said, ‘I'm going to make it happen.’”

President Yoon spent three days in Washington, which included a visit to the Korean War memorial on the National Mall, meetings and a joint press conference with President Joe Biden and a state dinner at the White House – concluding with the speech to the joint session.

Yoon’s speech focused on how far the U.S. and South Korea have come since the Korean war, including development, strategic relationships, culture and how important the modern-day alliance is between the two countries, particularly with the increasing threat of nuclear weapons in North Korea. The visit also marks the 70 years armistice that ended the fighting on the Korean Peninsula.

“Our alliance is stronger than ever, more prosperous together and more connected like no other. Indeed, it has been the lynchpin safeguarding our freedom, peace and prosperity,” said Yoon to thunderous applause.

But for Steel, this was more than just a moment of pride for her birth country: It was an important moment for her constituents back in Orange County, home to Little Saigon, the largest population of Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam. 

“I have about 37% Asian American constituents, 16.7% Vietnamese Americans, they fled from communism,” she said. “They came to this country for freedom and democracy.” 

For Congress and the world, Steel hopes Yoon’s visit is a lasting reminder of just how perilous democracy can be.