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Beijing: Christopher Hill, nuclear negotiator, media superstar.
Little known in his home country, the boyish-looking US assistant secretary of state has become a celebrity in China's capital and not just for his role as Washington's chief envoy in talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
"He's so charming and attractive," said Li Kenna, a desk clerk at the five-star hotel Hill stays at in Beijing. "He sometimes asks me how I am in the mornings," she said. "He's one of our nicest guests."
Hill - who has faced down Slobodan Milosevic and barricaded himself against mobs in Macedonia as a negotiator in the Bosnia and Kosovo crises - has been making periodic visits to Beijing for years, with troops of reporters flying in from South Korea and Japan to cover his wrangling with Pyongyang over a deal that would rid the communist country of its nuclear weapons programme.
His easygoing manner has also won over the media in comparison with the stonewall public relations efforts put forward by some of the other countries in the talks.
And with the negotiations taking place for hours on end behind closed doors, the idle time fuels speculation and jokes about Hill.
The interest in Hill may also stem from the fact that he speaks every morning and evening to the media.
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