U.S. envoy makes 1st Asia trip amid N. Korea woes

TOKYO — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday began a threenation 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.

It is a busy time for U.S. foreign policy.

The U.S. military has drawn up early plans that would deploy up to 1,000 more troops into northern Syria in the coming weeks, according to U.S. defense officials, and an American plan to facilitate the urgent entry of aid into Yemen has been halted at least temporarily.

But for now, Mr. Tillerson’s immediate focus will be on eastern Asia.

Mr. Tillerson flew to his first stop in Japan as the U.S., Japanese and South Korea navies conducted missile defense 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 that also pose an emerging threat to the United States itself.

Mr. Tillerson is to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday. He will also travel to South Korea, which is gripped by 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.

The former Exxon Mobil CEO has adopted a low profile as secretary of state. Mr. Tillerson was traveling to Asia with just one reporter — from the conservativeleaning website the Independent Journal Review.