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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Christopher Hill, new U.S ambassador-designate to Korea, held his first official meeting with Korean correspondents in the State Department on Thursday. Hill is expected to replace current ambassador Thomas Hubbard on August 12. He asked the participating reporters to consider the meeting only as an opportunity for him to introduce himself, saying that he would refrain from talking about important issues between Korea and the U.S. prior to his arrival in Korea.
The new ambassador-designate said that he informally likes getting along with ordinary people and he wants to be a friendly person to the Korean people. Hill said that he would work to consolidate public diplomacy between Seoul and Washington. In particular, he will meet various people from diverse areas in order to understand Korean society, which has become pluralistic and different from the one in the 1980s.
Hill expressed his affections for Korea, saying that he had volunteered to go to Korea because he had came to like Korean people and Korean culture like Korean food and architecture when he worked in Korea in the 1980s. The first thing he wants to do in Korea is travel to local regions and visit Buddhist temples and historical sites. He likes to exercise and plays tennis. He plans to learn how to play golf when he arrives in Korea.
When asked about the recently deteriorating relations between Korea and the U.S., Hill answered that he is optimistic about relations between the two countries, giving an example of house repair -- people don¡¯t know what progress has been made in the process when repairing their houses, but after a certain time passed, they come to find that incredible progress has been made. He said that relations between Korea and the U.S. cannot be measured by the number of candlelight demonstrators and that other numerous aspects should be taken into consideration. Although a lot of incidents have happened between the two countries in the past several years, Korea-U.S relations have a realistic basis for development.
He predicted that the outcome of the U.S.¡¯ presidential election in November would not significantly affect the relations between Korea and the U.S. Since the Republican Party and the Democratic Party agree on major issues concerning Korea, the U.S. would drive forward consistent and sincere policies toward Korea regardless of the result of the presidential election, the new ambassador-designate to Korea said.
Hill graduated from Bowdoin College and received a master¡¯s degree from the Naval War College. He served as the Senior Director for Southeast European Affairs at the National Security Council, the U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia and a special envoy for the Kosovo crisis. He also served as the ambassador to Poland. Hill worked as the first secretary in charge of economic matters at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 1985 to 1988.
(Kang In-sun, insun@chosun.com )
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