Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian & Pacific affairs, spoke to students last night about the North Korean nuclear issue during an address sponsored by the International Relations Organization, the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, the Washington Literary and Debating Society and the International Residential College.
Throughout his time with the Senior Foreign Service, Hill has served as ambassador to Macedonia, Poland and South Korea. In February 2005, Hill was appointed the head of the United States delegation to the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Other participating nations included China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and Russia.
IRO president Josh Cincinnati said his organization invited Hill to speak because he has been involved in dealing with an issue of public concern.
"We think nuclear proliferation is one of those issues that is on the public's mind, especially in light of Iran," Cincinnati said, noting that Hill could provide an interesting perspective as most people tend to focus on Iran rather than North Korea when considering the issue.
Hill said United States officials are concerned about North Korea's nuclear program for two main reasons. North Korea has a reputation for being willing to sell "just about anything," Hill remarked; as plutonium is easy to transport, the United States is concerned that North Korea would provide materials for nuclear weapons to others. Another concern relates to the balance of power in the region, Hill said. If North Korea were to develop nuclear weapons, other nations in the region, such as South Korea or Japan, might feel a need to develop similar nuclear programs.
Hill said the United States previously engaged in bilateral talks with North Korea. These negotiations were derailed, however, in 2002 when North Korea left the talks after the United States confronted North Korean officials about a clandestine program to develop highly enriched uranium.
After the two-party negotiations failed, the Bush administration worked with China to develop a six-party process for negotiations, Hill said. Those negotiations began approximately two years ago.
Hill said the first six-party talks were not very successful until this fall, when the participating countries reached the September 19 Joint Agreement in which North Korean officials agreed to completely dismantle all of their nuclear programs.
Hill said the United States wanted North Korea to agree to end all nuclear programs to avoid potential confusion and disagreements about whether nuclear programs existed for the purpose of developing weapons.
Hill said the United States thought the agreement marked a "pretty major step forward." Negotiations soon began to disintegrate again, however, when the United States Treasury Department made public its concerns about North Korean money laundering and counterfeiting.
The Treasury Department's concerns led to bank accounts -- including a North Korean account containing an estimated $17 to 20 million -- being frozen in a Macao district bank in China.
North Korean officials said they would not return to negotiations until their bank account was unfrozen.
Hill said the amount of money in the account should not prevent North Korean officials from continuing discussions; North Korean officials are not continuing talks because they do not yet feel comfortable implementing the September agreement.
Hill noted that another problem limiting the growth of relations between North Korea and the United States is the North Korean record on human rights.
"We're not expecting North Korea to become a Jeffersonian democracy, but we do expect them to sit down and talk to us about these issues, to talk to the international community," Hill said.
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