The US has urged Thailand to downgrade diplomatic and trade ties with North Korea, a senior Thai official said on Thursday after meeting with an American envoy, as the Trump administration pushes ahead with a global campaign to further isolate the nuclear-armed pariah state. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appears to have been contradicted by the White House and his own department, after suggesting the US had softened its position on talks with North Korea. North Korean state media confirmed in November that the rogue nation’s latest rocket launch was a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland.