6/23 "Who is he?"

July 26, 2007
Takako Iwatani, American General Bureau of the Asahi Shimbun, Washington, D.C.

"Who is he?" That's what I was asked by a stranger after Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher R. Hill left the airport. I was a little surprised by the question, but now I am wondering how many people know him. Hill might not be very famous in the U.S., however, he is very famous in Japan because he represents the U.S. at six-party talks.

The six-party talks are a series of meetings among the U.S., China, South Korea, Russia, Japan and North Korea. The meeting is usually held in Beijing, China to discuss issues mainly focused on the North Korean Nuclear Weapon Program.

North Korea has nuclear facilities. Countries around North Korea including Japan are worried about the possibility that North Korea will threated the countries with nuclear weapons in the future. The main agenda of the meeting is how North Korea goes about giving up on its plans to study nuclear power. It is a tough negotiation. To be frank, North Korea is demanding economic gifts and the credibility of safety, especially from the U.S., for agreeing to abandon its nuclear program. What concessions and how each county will get concessions from North Korea is what these talks are all about.

However, the meetings have not progressed easily. Here is another issue that had made the negotiations difficult: It is the abduction issue. How many of you are familiar with this issue? If you are not, I recommend you to watch the movie, "Abduction: The Yokota Megumi Story." The movie is good one in helping people understand this issue. Japan has insisted on talks with North Korea about this issue as well as the nuclear issue. That has made the negotiation tough. Some countries suggest that Japan should drop the issue this once so that they can focus on the nuclear issue. But, the Japanese government won't, because interest on the issue is extremely high in Japan.

On June 23, Hill was back from the trip. He went to Mongolia, Beijing, Korea and Japan on this trip. He was expecting another round of six-party talks in a few weeks. Many Japanese reporters were waiting for him at the arrival gate of the airport. I was one of them. Hill talked about his trip, sometimes he made jokes and laughed.

One of reporters asked him, "If you compare the six-party talks to baseball, which inning are you in?" Hill has been known as big baseball fan. He said, "In the bottom of the second, maybe," and smiled.

There is a long way to go.

 

Takako
My names is Takako Iwatani. I am from Japan and I am a junior news-editorial major in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I am interning at the American general bureau of the Asahi Shimbun in Washington, D.C. The Asahi Shimbun is one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan with a circulation of about 8.3 million. At this bureau, Japanese reporters and American reporters help each other as they cover major news stories in the U.S. for Japanese readers. I am so excited to see and learn how they work together. Email Me , View All Takako's Entries