Balbina Hwang Nominated to Key Post at State

Balbina Y. Hwang was nominated as a special assistant to Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
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On issues pertaining to North Korea, the analyst made clear that a hardline stance would continue to be be taken. She said diplomacy would stand at the forefront of dealings with the North, but the North Korean nuclear issue could only be resolved through pressure on Pyongyang.

She said Washington’s open criticism of the North’s human rights record and a series of financial sanctions imposed by Washington on entities and banks linked to North Korean illicit activities were in line with the overall principles of democracy and should not be linked to ongoing nuclear talks with the North.

[Correction,  2/22/07:   Ms. Hwang e-mails to describe the above quote, taken directly from the Joongang Ilbo piece linked at the bottom of this post, as “[i]naccurate, false and misleading …, as well as a completely inaccurate misreporting of my statements.”  She goes on:

For the record, I am not “special assistant” but Senior Special Advisor.  More importantly, the quote below which you attribute to me was in actuality a complete and purposeful misrepresentation of my comments, and was removed by the original Korean media outlet who published it, along with a statement of apology. I request that you REMOVE this IMMEDIATELY from your website.

I would only point out to Ms. Hwang that (a) these are the JI reporter’s words, not mine, (b)  newspapers don’t notify  bloggers when they correct or retract published articles, and (c)  one cannot simply  remove things from the Internet.  Instead, I am posting this  correction, since the quote will still be available in Internet search engines and archive sites regardless.  This way, the record is corrected along with the erroneous original.  End correction.]

… the latter being a departure from my personal orthodoxy that it’s all inextricably linked, because we can’t solve all of these issues whack-a-mole style, and because transparency and respect for human life are at the root of every one of them. The North Korean Human Rights Act also mandates that human rights be a part of our negotiating agenda, although that leads to some complex separation-of-powers issues.

I actually had a chance to talk with her at length once, and she’s actually quite a nice person, though I suspect she’ll find the job frustrating. Read the rest here. 

[Update:   I think honesty requires me to make a second correction above.   I’m always happy to comply with a polite request to correct the record,  but gratuitous, self-important rudeness doesn’t impress me, particularly coming from a diplomat.  Maybe  Ms. Hwang  simply  doesn’t grasp how  hyperlinks and block quotes work,  although patient explanation was pointless.]