Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be urging enforcement of economic sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs when he holds a working lunch Thursday with foreign ministers of the 10-nation Southeast Asia bloc.
The region's top diplomats will likely be more focused on the Trump administration's trade policy and its dealings with China and what it means for U.S. policy toward the South China Sea, where several members of the bloc have territorial disputes with Beijing.
Ahead of the lunch, Tillerson met separately with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi of Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia.
Although the region has seen democratic backsliding, human rights is unlikely to be high on the agenda.
