washington u.s. secretary state rex tillerson press china asian countries take tough action north korea attend regional meet manila start week senior u.s. official say wednesday susan thornton act assistant secretary state east asia say tillerson would chance engage china foreign minister meet association southeast asian nations manila plan meet north korea foreign minister thornton say tillerson due manila saturday would seek great cooperation isolate north korea enforce u.n. sanction missile nuclear weapons program say washington want see countries drastically reduce deal pyongyang try galvanize pressure isolate north korea see opportunity cost develop weapons program tell reporters telephone brief preview tillerson trip thornton say china take significant step ... frankly unprecedented step increase pressure neighbor north korea could lot step enforcement exist sanction impose would like see action fast obvious quick result think give yet thornton remark contrast u.s. president donald trump saturday accuse beijing nothing help north korea point huge u.s. trade deficit china senior trump administration official say tuesday trump close decision respond consider china unfair trade practice consider action could lead tariff trade restrictions chinese goods thornton decline comment possible action stress despite trump tweet north korea trade issue link transactional sort philosophical way work together jointly key security challenge face northeast asia north korea challenge say work together surely productive mutually beneficial economic relationship enjoy reciprocal fair access market thornton say tillerson would continue press china south china sea issue asia unite state press rapid adoption code conduct compete territorial claim say unite state would certainly raise human right philippine president duterte government u.s. criticism duterte bloody war drug trump predecessor barack obama damage relations long-standing ally duterte remain defiant accuse critics trivialize drug campaign human right concern tillerson also visit thailand next tuesday malaysia visit bangkok first u.s. secretary state since military seize power 2014 coup tillerson press china asean state north korea manila