What Should the Senate Ask Kathleen Stephens?

A reader tells me that the nomination hearing for Kathleen Stephens, State’s pick to be our next Ambassador to Seoul, will take place on April 16th, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

So if you sat on that panel, what would you ask? Naturally, I presume that every single answer to that kind of question will be thoughtful and intelligent, and the most intelligent and thoughtful questions have some unquantifiable chance to be seen by the people who will write the actual questions. On one hand, I’m in no position to make representations; on the other, this may not be an entirely theoretical exercise. You can post the answers in the comments below or e-mail them to me, hopefully with permission to post them anonymously.

Let me open the bidding by asking what Ms. Stephens, as Ambassador, would do to address outrages like this. I’d like to know how high a priority Ms. Stephens would make of dusting off OPLAN 5029 in light of the unfolding untergang in Pyongyang (pst – I know someone who would make a fine military attache). And I’d like to know what role she had in the State Department’s blocking of the North Korean Human Rights Act, most vividly illustrated by the disgraceful behavior of our Consul in Shenyang.

And finally, is this really a country we should remove from the list of state sponsors of terrorism?