North Korea's missile tests on March 6 and its march toward nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles has raised anxieties in Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing. These provocative tests followed the assassination in Malaysia of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother Kim Jong Nam in February using the deadly nerve agent VX and the disclosure that the North tried to sell nuclear material to international buyers last year.
The VX killing and attempt to engage in nuclear-grade weapons proliferation are a salient demonstration that North Korea is not only a regional threat to stability but also a global threat along conventional and unconventional lines.
It is against this backdrop that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing this week. His visit is meant to reassure allies in the face of a growingly provocative North Korea while at the same time laying the ground work for a tete-a-tete between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump later in the year to recalibrate U.S.-China relations.