Marc Knapper, director of the U.S. State Department's office of Indian affairs, has been named the deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy in South Korea, sources said Sunday.

Knapper is expected to take office as early as later this month as the No. 2 official at the embassy in Seoul, the sources said. He will succeed Leslie Bassett, who left the post in January to become ambassador to Paraguay.

Knapper will be first in line to Amb. Mark Lippert, who has been recovering from wounds sustained in a knife attack last week.

The new deputy chief of mission could oversee embassy affairs until the ambassador is fully recovered.

Knapper previously worked at the embassy in Seoul as political second secretary from 1997-2001. He also briefly served on the U.S. spent fuel team charged with sealing and canning spent fuel at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex under a 1994 nuclear freeze deal.

Among other posts, he served as political-military officer at the department's office of Chinese affairs, political counselor at the Embassy in Hanoi, deputy head of political section at the Embassy in Tokyo, political counselor at the Embassy in Baghdad and director of the department's office of Japanese affairs. (Yonhap)