US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has urged Southeast Asian governments to do more to help cut funding streams for North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and to minimise diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
In his first meeting with all members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Tillerson also called on rival claimants in the South China Sea to cease all island building and militarisation while talks aimed at creating a maritime code of conduct were under way.
After the meeting on Thursday, Patrick Murphy, US deputy assistant secretary of state to east Asia, said Tillerson also stressed Washington's security and economic commitment to the region amid doubts raised by President Donald Trump's "America first" platform and withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.
Tillerson called on ASEAN countries to fully implement UN sanctions on Pyongyang, which has ignored demands to abandon its weapons programs and is working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US, and to show a united front on the issue, Murphy said.
"We think that more can be done, not just in Southeast Asia," he said.
"We are communicating with all countries to implement the UN Security Council resolutions and, most importantly, deny North Korea the revenue streams it has used to advance its provocative programs ... We are encouraging continued and further steps across all of ASEAN."
Last week at the UN Security Council, Tillerson called on countries to suspend or downgrade diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, saying it abused diplomatic privileges to help fund its arms programs.
All ASEAN members have diplomatic relations with North Korea and five have embassies there.
Murphy said Washington was not encouraging ASEAN states to formally cut diplomatic ties but to examine the North Korean presence "where it clearly exceeds diplomatic needs".
He said some countries were already doing this and also looking at the presence of North Korean workers, another significant revenue earner for Pyongyang.
Washington wants ASEAN countries to crack down on money laundering and smuggling involving North Korea and to look at restricting legal business, too.
The administration has been working to persuade China, North Korea's neighbour and only major ally, to increase pressure on Pyongyang.
Diplomats say US pressure has caused some irritation in ASEAN, including Malaysia, which has maintained relations with Pyongyang in spite of the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother at Kuala Lumpur International airport on Feb. 13.
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