Speech transcript.
NPR: Clinton is traveling to Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and China. She told the Asia Society in New York that the new special envoy on climate change, Todd Stern, will be traveling with her and that they will visit a clean thermal power plant in Beijing. Clinton is also expected to raise human rights issues there, though she downplayed that when she spoke to NPR after her speech.Hillary is also sending a delegation to India to retrace the steps of Dr. Martin Luther King's trip to India, where he studied change through non-violence. Martin Luther King III will lead the delegation, which includes John Lewis and Andrew Young. The delegation will stop in Mumbai.
"I'm going to be discussing a comprehensive agenda with the leaders of each of the nations that I visit," Clinton said. "And human rights will be on the agenda, as will common efforts to deal with the global financial crisis and combat climate change, and prepare for pandemics, as well as work to enhance our security arrangements, and other opportunities that we see in front of us."
North Korea
In her speech to the Asia Society on Friday, Clinton said the U.S. is ready to normalize relations with Pyongyang if North Korea is genuinely prepared to completely and verifiably eliminate its nuclear weapons program.
"So much of it depends upon the choices that the North Korean government makes," she said. "Certainly, we are hopeful that they will not engage in provocative actions and words that could create a much more difficult path for us to walk with them."
Clinton said she will be speaking to U.S. allies in the region about how to get disarmament talks back on track.
