Southeast Asian defence ministers on Monday expressed “grave concern” over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and underscored the “need to maintain peace and stability in the region” and called “for the exercise of self-restraint and the resumption of dialogue to de-escalate tensions in the Korean peninsula”. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis kicked of his week-long trip to the region on Monday to meet Southeast Asian defence chiefs and discus the crisis caused by Pyongyang’s “reckless” provocations.