Pence told reporters near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea that US President Donald Trump is hopeful that China will use its "extraordinary levers" to pressure the North to abandon its weapons.
Pence, who has called the North's failed missile test a day earlier "a provocation," said the US and its allies will achieve its objectives through "peaceable means or ultimately by whatever means are necessary" to protect South Korea and stabilize the region, the Associated Press reported.
Pence visited a military base near the DMZ, Camp Bonifas, for a briefing with military leaders and to meet with American troops stationed there. The joint US -South Korean military camp is just outside the 2.5-mile-wide DMZ.
His visit, full of Cold War symbolism, and his remarks to reporters come amid increasing tensions and heated rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula. While the North did not conduct a nuclear test, the specter of a potential escalated US response trailed Pence as he began a 10-day trip to Asia.