Clinton Meets Aung San Suu Kyi

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with human-rights activist and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday, only hours after meeting Suu Kyi’s oppressor, Burmese President Thein Sein. Clinton has called Suu Kyi a personal inspiration, and while they have spoken by telephone, they had never met before because Suu Kyi has been under house arrest in Burma for much of the past two decades. Prior to the meeting with Suu Kyi, Clinton said the U.S. would reward Burma’s leaders if they kept “moving in the right direction.” She also urged Burma to cut “illicit ties” to North Korea and to end ethnic violence. Clinton is the highest-ranking American diplomat to travel to Burma in more than 50 years, and she is there to test how committed the new civilian government is to its promises of reform.