Longtime Statesman Puts Best Face Forward for U.S.

Hill had long sought to be ambassador to South Korea, and he finally got there last year. But then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plucked him for his current job after he had been there just eight months.

In Seoul, Hill broke with diplomatic precedent -- and charmed the South Korean public -- by repeatedly visiting universities and other hotbeds of anti-Americanism to give speeches and have debates. He established a cyber chat room and personally answered questions from Koreans under the name "ambassador." He caused a stir by paying respects at a memorial for thousands of civilians who were fired upon by the then-military government in a 1980 massacre. Many Koreans has suspected that the U.S. government had backed the attack, and no senior U.S. official had ever before visited the cemetery in Gwangju.

"He was here the shortest term among the six ambassadors that I've seen here in my 18 years, but had the most impact," said Tami Overby, a senior official with the American Chamber of Commerce in South Korea. "He was a rule-breaker, always willing to challenge."

Hill jokes that he feels like "assistant secretary for North Korea," but his current post gives him responsibility for U.S. policy toward countries across the Pacific region, including China, Japan and Indonesia. Much as he hated to leave Seoul, he said, Rice's offer was "truly an offer I couldn't refuse."

Hill's experience brings him connections across the globe. While ambassador to Poland, Hill got to know the South Korean ambassador at the time -- Song Min Soon -- who then became the chief South Korean negotiator at the North Korean disarmament talks. The two have joked to Rice that they formed a "Warsaw pact" during the talks.

"He's really a man who wants to do something, not just managing things," Song said in an telephone interview from Seoul. "We jointly determined we would make history, rather than sitting idle on the floor of history."

Rice has given Hill significant negotiating authority, and he said he worked closely with her in structuring the compromise that resulted in this week's agreement. Essentially, it allowed both sides to offer its own interpretation of a crucial clause, allowing a deal to be announced -- but with the essential dispute fundamentally unresolved.

Hill said his years in diplomacy had convinced him that "people are neither as bad as they look nor as good as they look." So, as a negotiator, he tries to suspend value judgments as he analytically tries to figure out the other side's goals -- and whether you can "allow that other side to fulfill its objectives in a way that is consistent with your interests."

The Bush administration has long been bitterly divided over North Korea policy, but Hill shrugs off any difficulties over managing the competing demands of the State Department, Pentagon and White House.

"Your best diplomacy should start at home," he said. "As a professional diplomat, if I can't deal with that, then what am I doing talking to foreigners?"

Special correspondent Joohee Cho contributed to this report from Seoul.