Hill May Keep His Post
By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
The top U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill may get to keep his job in the new Barack Obama administration.
According to reports, U.S. President-elect Obama has expressed his interest in setting up a new ambassadorial post solely responsible for dealing with North Korean denuclearization. Hill, who has been the chief U.S. negotiator in the six-nation talks, is one of the leading candidates for the job in the new administration.
In a report this week, Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted a foreign policy analyst as saying that there are rumors in Washington suggesting Hill could be appointed to a new ambassadorial post to continue the North Korean denuclearization talks. It added that he may even get promoted as the undersecretary for political affairs in the U.S. State Department. Currently, Hill is the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs.
The report suggests that Hilary Clinton, who is slated to become the next U.S. secretary of state, has already made an offer to Hill to work in the incoming Obama administration.
The RFA also quoted a Washington foreign policy analyst as saying that Hill, who is a career diplomat, has expressed his desire to continue to work as a U.S. negotiator under the Obama administration. If Hill were to stay on at the U.S. State Department, he would most likely continue his role as the top U.S. nuclear envoy in a new ambassadorial post, the report said.
There is a good chance that Hill will stay on because he already knows the negotiation process and can hit the ground running, and North Korea is also quite used to negotiating with Hill, according to an analyst quoted in the RFA report.
The report also suggested that a former North Korea point-person during the Bill Clinton administration, Wendy Sherman, is likely to join the U.S. State Department. Sherman could be tapped as a senior advisor on North Korean issues to assist Hilary Clinton.
The latest round of six-party negotiations came to a halt in Beijing in December, when North Korea refused to adopt a denuclearization verification protocol that would include on-site inspections and other steps.