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| Sunday, 16 January 2005 |
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U.S. envoy in Seoul to be policymaker for Asia WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to South Korea for the past five months, is expected to replace James Kelly as the State Department's top Asia policymaker, a U.S. congressman and other government sources said on Friday. Hill's expertise is largely in eastern Europe. He was a major player in U.S. peacemaking efforts in the Balkans in the 1990s, honing negotiating skills that may be put to good use with North Korea, several sources said. "There is talk about (Hill) taking Kelly's job as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. I think it will happen," U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel told Reuters in a telephone call from Seoul after he participated in a U.S. congressional delegation trip to North Korea. Hill "had extensive negotiating experience in the Balkans. He was very effective in terms of working with the Serbs and in Macedonia ... He's perfect. He's got the right temperament and he's smart," Engel, a New York Democrat, said. A U.S. Senate source and an administration source separately said they expect Hill to get the job, which also includes developing and implementing U.S. policy on China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. Hill, a career foreign service officer, "impressed the president (George W. Bush) and (Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza) Rice when he was ambassador to Poland," the Senate source said. In addition to serving as ambassador to Poland, Hill has been ambassador to Macedonia, special envoy for Kosovo and held other senior posts in the White House and State Department. He helped negotiate the Bosnia peace agreement. The Bush administration has recently made a major push to persuade Pyongyang to return to six-country talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs and the congressional delegation's visit to Pyongyang prompted more encouraging statements from the communist state. |
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