Кристофер Хилл: Американский дипломат и переговорщик по Северной Корее.

American diplomat (born 1952)

Christopher Robert Hill (born August 10, 1952) is an American diplomat who is United States Ambassador to Serbia. Previously, he was George W. Ball Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in the City of New York, the Chief Advisor to the Chancellor for Global Engagement and Professor of the Practice in Diplomacy at the University of Denver. Prior to this position, he was the Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the university, a position he held from September 2010 to December 2017.

Hill's father was a diplomat in the Foreign Service: Hill was born in Paris, and as a child, he traveled with his family to many countries. where Hill attended Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, graduating in 1970. He then went on to study at Bowdoin College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1974. Hill was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon from 1974 to 1976. Hill took the Foreign Service exam while he was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon. He speaks Polish, Serbo Croatian and Macedonian. Hill served as Secretary for Economic Affairs at the Embassy of the United States in Seoul from 1983 to 1985.

Hill was part of the team that negotiated the Bosnia peace settlement. On July 14, 2007, North Korea informed Hill that they had shut down the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and admitted an international inspection team. On September 3, 2007 The New York Times reported that Hill met in Geneva for two days of one on one negotiations with Kim Kye gwan, who heads the North Korean negotiating team, and that North Korea had agreed to disable its main nuclear fuel production plant by the end of 2007 and to account for all of its nuclear programs to international monitors. On December 20, 2007, the Korea Times reported that Kathleen Stephens, adviser to Hill at the State Department in the office of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, had been appointed as the next ambassador to South Korea. On January 8, 2008 The New York Times reported that North Korea had missed a deadline to submit an inventory of its nuclear arms programs and that Hill said that failure to meet a deadline should be confronted with patience and perseverance. On February 7, 2008, Hill told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that talks with North Korea are at a "critical, challenging" point. On March 2, 2008, Hill said in an interview in Beijing that US diplomatic relations with Korea were possible before the end of the Bush administration if Korea completely dismantled its nuclear program. On April 11, 2008 The Washington Post reported that a tentative deal has been reached with North Korea concerning a range of nuclear activities and the lifting of sanctions against North Korea.

Although Hill is not well known in the United States, he has become a celebrity in China as chief envoy in talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Part of the reason is that during negotiations Hill speaks every morning and evening to the media and has an easygoing manner, while his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye Gwan, gives only occasional media access. Hill says that China has been an active participant in the six party talks.

US President Barack Obama nominated Christopher Hill for the post of U. S. Ambassador to Iraq on March 11, 2009. After having faced opposition from Republican Senators such as Sam Brownback, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham, Hill was approved on April 20 to be the U. S. Ambassador to Iraq by the Senate with 73 votes for, and 23 against. Hill extended his tenure in Iraq, totaling 16 months, postponing his own retirement from a career in diplomacy. While there, he was charged with reaching an agreement about the formation of an Iraqi run government. Unfortunately, Hill couldn't break the months long stalemate and called Iraq his most formidable challenge.

President Joe Biden announced Hill as his nominee to be the U. S. Ambassador to Serbia on October 14, 2021, and his nomination was sent to the Senate on October 28. Hearings on his nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on December 14, 2021. The committee favorably reported his nomination on January 12, 2022. On March 10, 2022, he was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote. He presented his credentials to President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic on March 31, 2022.

Hill was a recipient of the Robert C. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis. and in February 2008, Hill was awarded the "Building Bridges" Award by the Pacific Century Institute. The recipients are recognized as people who have enhanced relations between Americans and Asians and who exemplify PCI's commitment to building bridges to a better future. In 2012, Hill was appointed as an honorary Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2013 New Year Honours.

In a September 8, 2016 segment with anchors Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, and Willie Geist on MSNBC's Morning Joe that appeared following 2016 Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson's appearance on the news program that same day, Hill criticized Johnson for his lack of knowledge on the location and significance of Aleppo, Syria during the earlier interview with the hosts and Mike Barnicle. He mocked Johnson for his apparent confusion and "blank stare," proclaiming that he would likely be forevermore known as "Aleppo Johnson" and that it would probably be the end of his presidential bid, but himself erroneously referred to Aleppo as "the capital of ISIS" despite having previously served as the US Ambassador to neighboring Iraq. While Scarborough, Brzezinski, and Geist did not correct this verbal mistake on air, numerous news outlets and commentators noted Hill's own gaffe in their coverage of Johnson, and critiqued him for his hypocrisy. In March 2018, Hill referred to the passage of the anti defamation legislation by the Polish parliament as "revenge of the peasants".

Hill is married to the former Julie Ann Ryczek, a school teacher and health and nutrition advocate from Treasure Island, Florida. He has three grown children, Nathaniel, Amelia and Clara. Hill speaks Serbo Croatian, Polish, Macedonian and French.

Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy: a Memoir (Simon and Schuster, 2014).