2007.02.08: February 8, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Cameroon: Diplomacy: COS - Korea: New York Times: Christopher R. Hill, the chief American envoy, arrived in Beijing and held separate meetings with Chinese and Russian diplomats
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Cameroon:
RPCV Christopher R. Hill (Cameroon) :
RPCV and Diplomat Christopher R. Hill (Cameroon):
2007.01.20: January 20, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Korea: COS - Cameroon: Diplomacy: Washington Post: North Korea Reports Progress In Talks With U.S. Envoy Christopher Hill :
2007.02.08: February 8, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Cameroon: Diplomacy: COS - Korea: New York Times: Christopher R. Hill, the chief American envoy, arrived in Beijing and held separate meetings with Chinese and Russian diplomats
Christopher R. Hill, the chief American envoy, arrived in Beijing and held separate meetings with Chinese and Russian diplomats
Mr. Hill is essentially trying to return the process to September 2005, when North Korea agreed in a broad draft accord to end its nuclear arms program in return for security, economic and energy benefits. Even then, analysts said the differences between the United States and North Korea made a final agreement far from certain. Subsequent talks on carrying out the provisions broke down, and North Korea then defied international warnings by testing a nuclear device last October. Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon.
Christopher R. Hill, the chief American envoy, arrived in Beijing and held separate meetings with Chinese and Russian diplomats
Nuclear Talks on North Korea Set to Resume in Beijing
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: February 8, 2007
BEIJING, Feb. 7 — Negotiators on Thursday will resume the long-stalled talks aimed at North Korean nuclear disarmament amid tentative signs of a possible breakthrough in a diplomatic process that seemed shattered four months ago when North Korea tested a nuclear device.
Christopher R. Hill, the chief American envoy, arrived in Beijing on Wednesday and held separate meetings with Chinese and Russian diplomats. Mr. Hill has been shuttling around the world, meeting with envoys from North Korea and other countries, in an effort to restart and advance the talks that North Korea abandoned more than a year ago.
“We all share ambitions for this round,” Mr. Hill told reporters as he arrived at his hotel on Wednesday evening. “We want to make a good start, a good step forward.”
Mr. Hill is essentially trying to return the process to September 2005, when North Korea agreed in a broad draft accord to end its nuclear arms program in return for security, economic and energy benefits. Even then, analysts said the differences between the United States and North Korea made a final agreement far from certain. Subsequent talks on carrying out the provisions broke down, and North Korea then defied international warnings by testing a nuclear device last October.
In a brief appearance earlier Wednesday at the Beijing airport, Mr. Hill was careful not to set expectations too high for this week. “I want to emphasize that the real success is when we complete the September ’05 agreement,” he said. “Not just when we start the ’05 agreement, but when we finish it. So we’re not going to finish that this week.”
“We’ll just maybe take a good first step,” he said.
The talks — which involve China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, the United States and North Korea — began more than three years ago and have brought scarce tangible progress after various rounds in Beijing. Formal talks will resume Thursday afternoon in a government guesthouse in Beijing and are likely to continue into the weekend.
Recently, North Korea has seemed to signal more of a willingness to bargain and to specify its demands. Last weekend, two American envoys returning from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, said the nation was prepared to disable its main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon in exchange for an energy package of electricity and oil from its neighbors. North Korea also told the envoys that it wanted the United States to lift financial sanctions and remove it from a list of states that sponsored terrorism.
The two envoys, Joel S. Wit, a Clinton administration official involved in North Korea issues, and David Albright, a nuclear specialist, first described the North Korean position to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, while passing through the Beijing airport last Saturday.
Mr. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, has spent much of 2007 traveling to build a consensus on a deal. Last month, he and the top North Korean envoy, Kim Kye-gwan, met in Berlin, the first such meetings between the United States and North Korea outside Beijing. Mr. Hill described those talks as “substantive” and has expressed guarded optimism throughout his travels.
A potential sticking point for North Korea is how much ground the United States will give on financial sanctions. In 2005, the United States accused Banco Delta Asia in Macao, a Chinese territory, of laundering counterfeit dollars that it said North Korea was using to finance drug trafficking and other illegal activities. The United States froze $24 million in North Korean assets, largely shutting North Korea out of the international financial system.
North Korea has demanded the release of the $24 million. Last week, a United States Treasury official met with North Korean diplomats on the issue.
Brian Bridges, a professor of politics at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, said no breakthrough was apparent but that there had been speculation that the United States might agree to declare part of the frozen Banco Delta Asia money “clean” in a compromise. Mr. Bridges predicted that negotiations this week, at best, might form working groups to discuss particular issues like denuclearization and the sanctions. But he said any larger, significant progress was unlikely. “I’m not too optimistic,” he said. “I don’t think there is going to be a major breakthrough.”
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: February, 2007; RPCV Christopher Hill (Cameroon); Figures; Peace Corps Cameroon; Directory of Cameroon RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Cameroon RPCVs; Diplomacy; Peace Corps Korea; Directory of Korea RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Korea RPCVs; Rhode Island
When this story was posted in February 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
 | Ron Tschetter in Morocco and Jordan
On his first official trip since being confirmed as Peace Corps Director, Ron Tschetter (shown at left with PCV Tia Tucker) is on a ten day trip to Morocco and Jordan. Traveling with his wife (Both are RPCVs.), Tschetter met with volunteers in Morocco working in environment, youth development, health, and small business development. He began his trip to Jordan by meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and discussed expanding the program there in the near future. |
 | Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps
Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
 | He served with honor
One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
 | Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance
The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
 | The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again
The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
 | PCOL readership increases 100%
Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
 | History of the Peace Corps
PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: New York Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Cameroon; Diplomacy; COS - Korea
PCOL36149
41
