The acting chief of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul will step down from his position later this month on the orders of U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Multiple diplomatic sources said Sunday that Trump had ordered Joseph Yun, the mission's chargé d’affaires ad interim, to depart South Korea around October 26, just days before Trump's arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) summit in Gyeongju on October 31.

Trump is also set to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the summit.

Sources believe the Trump administration's dissatisfaction with the pace of Seoul and Washington's follow-up trade negotiations, which are currently focused on the method by which South Korea will invest its pledged 350 billion U.S. dollars in its ally's economy. 

Kevin Kim, currently deputy assistant secretary of state for China, Japan and Korea and previously a working-level official during the U.S.-North Korea summit, has been named the embassy's new chargé d’affaires ad interim.