In less than a week from today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will begin her first tour to Asia to strengthen international relations, discuss measures to curb greenhouse gasses, ways to wedge the world out of the financial crisis and solve the North Korean Nuclear deadlock.

Highlighting the importance of Asia as her first port of call as Secretary of State, State Department spokesman Robert Wood told Bloomberg that Clinton chose Asia as her initial destination to “send a tremendous signal” of the region’s importance to American policy. Clinton will visit Tokyo, Jakarta, Seoul and Beijing.

Meanwhile, the new U.S administration has made it clear that it is not sidelining South Asia. While Hillary Clinton will not include India and Pakistan on her visit to Asia this time, special envoy Richard Holbrooke is expected to make a trip to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to ease tensions in the region.

While North Korea will be the theme of the Clinton trip, experts warn that the issue will be messy. Woodrow Wilson scholar Selig Harrison just back from his trip 11th trip to Pyongyang told the npr that he’s convinced that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il did have a stroke, that hawks are now in control of foreign policy there, and that North Korea is unlikely to give up plutonium that officials there claim they’ve weaponized.