U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday named Christopher Hill, who has long been American envoy to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, as new U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

Christopher Hill attends a press conference in Washington, capital of the United States, on Feb. 26, 2009. U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday named Christopher Hill, who has long been American envoy to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, as new U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

Speaking to U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Obama said Hill has shown the “pragmatism and skill” that is needed now in Iraq.

As Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Hill has worked for almost four years as the chief of the U.S. delegate to the so-called six-party talks, a multilateral mechanism on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

The six parties, namely the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Russia and China, ended their third meeting during the sixth round of talks last December in Beijing without substantial progress on how to verify the DPRK’s nuclear facilities.

Hill also served as a negotiator in the crises in Bosnia and Kosovo.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet