Christopher Hill on the Six-Party Talks on North Korea & Northeast Asia

I went to this talk yesterday:

SPEAKER: Christopher Hill
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean Nuclear Issue

TITLE: "The North Korea Talks in the Context of Northeast Asia Security"

DATE: Monday, February 2nd, 6:30pm

LOCATION: Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS-South), Tsai Auditorium. 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA.

MODERATED by Professor Alistair Iain Johnston, Department of Government, Harvard University


I had planned to write a full report on it last night, but I ended up sleeping right after the talk because I was exhausted from working on my thesis draft yesterday. Today I found a report about it on Daily NK, a website about North Korean news.

So I guess I can save the energy of writing a full report. Here are some random points that I remember from the talk:

1. When asked how South Korea should position itself in the region's international relations, Hill responded, "South Korea's role should solely depend on what South Korean people want. " But if someone really pushes him for his opinion, "I would say the best thing for South Korea to do is to preserve and strengthen her relationship with the US. Being a small country surrounded by strong neighbors, relationship with the US is the biggest leverage."

2. There are no substantial political alliance between Russia and China today.

3. North Korea may seem irrational and funny to the US media. However, if you walk in their shoes, considering their culture and other factors, their actions may have been totally logical.

4. Hill has one tip for "Western" politicians who want to deal with Asians. "Hardwork is admired and respected in Asia. Very often, Asians don't regard Americans as hardworking as we were born with many privileges. In working with Asians, I put extra hardwork to show that I have done my homework. When my Asian counterparts suggest meeting at 9am, for example, I would suggest 8am."

5. Hill is very glad that China is chairing the Northeast Asian security talks now because no other country has a bigger leverage on North Korea than China. However, the relationship between China and North Korea is complex. In China, different people have different voices on North Korean issues.

6. The North Korean nuclear proliferation is important for the Obama administration in the sense that it has a symbolic meaning. It is by far the only international security issue that has involved the three biggest economies of the world (US, Japan, China) and the biggest energy producer (Russia) in solving. "If we can't solve the North Korean problem, how are we gonna solve the Iran problem?"