Chris Hill: from North Korea to Iraq

Christopher Hill, the outgoing assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and U.S. envoy to the six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons, has been tapped as the new  U.S. ambassador to Iraq, ABC News reports. He would succeed departing Amb. Ryan Crocker.

"Our country has no finer talent for any tough job," says former U.S. ambassador to Egypt Francis Ricciardone, currently a guest scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images