Sin Hong-chol, North Korea's deputy foreign minister, told Al Jazeera that Donald Trump's administration "should look at the world with open eyes".
"President Trump is determined to work closely with Japan, with South Korea, with all our allies in the region, and with China, to achieve a peaceable solution and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula", Pence told Abe at the outset of their working lunch.
Pence's advisers said the vice president would make the case to Abe and Aso that the USA rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, under Trump did not signal a US withdrawal from trade and economic development in the region.
Mr Mattis condemned the attempted missile launch as he began a Middle East tour, telling reporters travelling with him to Saudi Arabia: "The leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile".
"The Dear Supreme Leader waved back to them and congratulated the artistes on their successful performance", KCNA said. And a day later it conducted a failed missile test, which drew worldwide condemnation.
North Korea has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of United Nations sanctions and has said it has developed a missile that can strike the USA mainland.
The possibility of a preemptive strike against North Korea for now seems to be an unlikely scenario as National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster on ABC news said it is time to undertake all actions "short of a military option". "But we're going to redouble our efforts to bring diplomatic and economic pressure to bear on North Korea".
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Pence's visit aboard the Reagan comes amid heightened concerns that North Korea will attempt a nuclear weapons test, which would be its sixth since 2006.
China has recently shown "tangible indications" that it is cooperating with the U.S.to turn up the pressure on Pyongyang, a senior State Department official said Monday.
China's top negotiator for North Korea's nuclear program, Wu Dawei, held talks on the missile shield and North Korea's recent actions during a visit to Seoul last week.
The last time Wu visited Pyongyang, in early February previous year, his job was to urge restraint after North Korea announced a plan to put a satellite into orbit with a long-range rocket.
China, a permanent member of the Security Council and one of North Korea's closest allies, had agreed to the statement, according to a Security Council diplomat.
Trump's decision to scrap a 12-nation trans-Pacific trade deal was a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who expended substantial political capital to get the deal passed at home.
While Japan's trade surplus with the U.S.is much smaller than China's, Trump has decried the imbalance, especially in auto exports.
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