Gillibrand heading on tour of Asian nations

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will have a chance to practice her Chinese next week.

New York's junior Democratic senator, who speaks Mandarin, will travel with a bipartisan congressional delegation to South Korea, China and Japan, her communications director Bethany Lesser confirmed after South Korea's Yonhap News Agency broke the story last week.

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Reps. Grace Meng (D-Queens) and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), will also go, the news service reported, citing congressional sources. Lesser said the aim will be "to discuss national security issues related to regional security and cybersecurity," but declined to elaborate.-- Tom Brune