From Six-Party Talks to A Lasting Peace—Next Steps in Northeast Asia

A talk with Ambassador Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Professor Susan Shirk, Arthur Ross Fellow from the Center on US-China Relations

One of the most intractable foreign policy challenges facing the Obama Administration is to be found on the Korean Peninsula, in the heart of Northeast Asia. Negotiations with North Korea are an issue of urgent concern to all regional parties, and, because of the nuclear dimension, to the whole world. Over the past few years, the North Korean issue has also emerged an important arena of collaboration and coordination between the US and China. Probably no American knows more about the complex diplomacy involved in the Six-Party Talks than Chris Hill, who has served as lead US negotiator for almost four years. In a major address to Asia Society’s audience, he will reflect on the accomplishments to date, and share his counsel on what will be required to move the negotiating process to the next phase of disarmament and normalization, and towards a lasting peace. Ambassador Hill will be joined in conversation by Professor Susan Shirk, the Arthur Ross Fellow in the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society, and the Director of the University of California’s Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation. Professor Shirk was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs from 1997-2000 and is an expert on Northeast Asian politics.