Ambassador Christopher Hill will discuss recent challenges as the United States attempts to deal with North Korea’s military buildup, including the nation’s development of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons. He will also focus on the relationships of South Korea and China to North Korea and will analyze recent summit and political meetings and the steps necessary to produce positive results. He will also present his ideas on how the world community can address these nuclear threats. 

Christopher Hill, a former career diplomat, served as lead negotiator for the United States in the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue between 2005 and 2009. In a distinguished State Department career that included four ambassadorships to which he was nominated by three presidents, he served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, the Republic of Korea, Poland, and the Republic of Macedonia; served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs; and played an instrumental role in the Bosnia and Kosovo peace negotiations. He also spent two years as a special assistant to the president and a senior director on the staff of the National Security Council. He is currently 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. He is author of Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy: A Memoir, a monthly columnist for Project Syndicate, and a highly sought-after public speaker and voice in the media on international affairs. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Bowdoin College and a master’s degree from the Naval War College.