U.S. envoy makes Asia trip as anxiety rises over N. Korea

TOKYO -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday began a three-nation tour of Asia, where anxiety is rising over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, along with questions over how the Trump administration will tackle one of its sternest national-security challenges.

Tillerson flew to his first stop in Japan as the U.S., Japanese and South Korea navies conducted missile-defense information-sharing drills in the region.

Uncertainty remains, however, over how the U.S. administration intends to pressure or persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, which also pose an emerging threat to the United States itself.

Tillerson is to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida today.

He also will travel to South Korea, which is gripped by domestic political turmoil after the ouster of its president, and then to China, which is conflicted about how to treat North Korea, its traditional ally, for fear of triggering its collapse.

Adding to the combustible mix of military tension and the region's historic rivalries is another factor: confusion about U.S. foreign policy under the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump's rise to power has raised anxiety in Asian capitals.

During last year's election campaign, Trump asked whether allies such as Japan and South Korea contribute enough for their own defense or should get their own nuclear weapons. He also questioned the fundamentals of four decades of U.S. diplomacy with China.

Trump has allayed some of those concerns since taking office.

He hosted Abe at his Florida resort last month, and when Tillerson goes to Beijing on Saturday, the secretary of state is expected to arrange a much-anticipated visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the U.S.

North Korea will be a top priority on all Tillerson's stops.

The State Department said Tillerson wants to discuss "fresh" approaches.