U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on March 17 the Chinese regime was acting aggressively and repressively, and accused North Korea of committing “systemic and widespread abuses” against its own people. Blinken’s remarks disclosed a fissure in Washington and Seoul’s approach to China and North Korea, openly pressing South Korea to join hands in keeping Beijing in check and improving Pyongyang’s human rights violations. Blinken is visiting Japan and South Korea alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a first overseas trip by top-level members of President Joe Biden’s administration aimed at rebuilding U.S. alliances in Asia. At talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong in Seoul, Blinken said China was using “coercion and aggression,” citing its posturing over Taiwan and Hong Kong and in the East and South China Seas where it has territorial disputes with Japan and other Asian nations. China’s extensive territorial claims in the East …