Rumors in Korea suggest that Christopher Hill is staying on as chief negotiator with North Korea. This is the guy that struck an oral agreement to allow soil testing as part of the nuclear verification protocol.

When North Korea failed to follow through on their not-important-enough-to get-in-writing promise, his not-quite-ready for-prime-time-team announced that the U.S. and the other members of the gang of five had agreed to cut off fuel shipments to the recalcitrant North Koreans.

Only problem, Hill's team forgot to tell the Russians:

But the announcement met a strong reaction from Russia, as its chief nuclear negotiator, Alexei Borodavkin, said the news from Washington "surprised" Moscow.

Borodavkin told RIA Novosti news agency that Russia "had not agreed upon any joint arrangements with the U.S. about a delay or suspension of fuel oil shipments to North Korea as an offset against dismantling of the Yongbyon nuclear research center."

Nor did he tell any of the other countries involved, not even the South Koreans knew anything about their supposed commitment to punish North Korea for breaking its not-important-enough-to get-in-writing commitment.

Christopher Hill is another guy we don't need on our team after 1/21.