Apparently US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, in Beijing for the latest round of six-party talks, is something of a hit with the ladies in the capital.

Either that, or it was a very quiet day down at AP’s Beijing office yesterday.

If we were to be uncouth, we might suggest that Hill’s newfound fan club was drawn by tales of his legendary stamina - after all, this is a man who can keep going (at the negotiating table) for 16 hours straight.

The AP article is more realistic. What (reasonably media-friendly) man would fail to experience a PR boost when placed beside Kim Kye Gwan, the generally taciturn North Korean negotiator?