RUMFORD — Jonathan Perkins, son of Jerry and the late Joyce Perkins of Orrington, and wife, Caroline, were recently deployed to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, where they will serve until 2019.

At the embassy, Jonathan Perkins leads a team that is focused on regional affairs, including security issues related to North Korea and China. Perkins, who is fluent in Japanese, also speaks Chinese and Korean. He works with counterparts in the Japanese government to jointly tackle shared security threats in this region of the world. North Korea’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons is one such threat.

The Perkinses’ assignment in Tokyo is their third posting in East Asia. Prior to Tokyo, Jonathan and Caroline were posted at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 2003 to 2006, and the embassy in Seoul from 2013 to 2016. Jonathan has been with the U.S. State Department since 2000, while Caroline began in 1999. Their two children, Elizabeth and Catherine, are with them.

Jonathan Perkins graduated with honors from Mountain Valley High School in Rumford and Bowdoin College in Brunswick.