The new White House administration under President Donald Trump will soon use the United States' economic and military influence to force China to take a more aggressive stance toward North Korea, the New York Times reported Wednesday. The news followed days of ongoing trilateral military defense training exercises between the U.S., Japan and South Korea to prepare for a potential ballistic missile launch from the north.

Several officials familiar with Rex Tillerson's agenda during his first mission to Asia as secretary of state said he'd urge the world power to better help contain the North Korean threat through financial implications. How the former Exxon CEO, with zero political or diplomatic experience, will deliver the message from the White House to Chinese President Xi Jinping's government remained to be seen.

Read: American Ships Prepare For North Korean Missile Launches With Japan, South Korea

The State Department's desire to aggressively address the conflict enveloping the Korean peninsula in its first 100 days reflected just how dire the situation has become since Trump took office.

Photo: Reuters

Tensions have been simmering between South Korea and the North at a heightened level in recent months, as North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has ramped up the reclusive nation’s ballistic missile tests, which are in direct defiance of current United Nations sanctions.

Meanwhile, Nikki Haley, Trump's ambassador to the U.N., told reporters last month the U.S. was considering "all options" following a special session called to address North Korean missile tests. She wouldn’t directly respond to a New York Times report suggesting the U.S. was considering striking the North’s key nuclear missile sites, but said each country in the U.N., including China, needed to be held more accountable for their response to the hostile country.

"The global community needs to understand every country is in danger from the actions of North Korea," Haley said. "We are not going to leave South Korea standing there with the threat of North Korea facing them and not help."