Pence: No negotiations with NK 'at this time'

US President Donald Trump also said he's sending an "armada" to Korea.

Speaking inside the ship's ceremonial room, the vice president spoke to CNN after addressing about 2,500 troops on the ship's deck - something he said he's never done before.

This new stance Pence described, if it becomes formal US government policy, not only breaks from decades of Washington orthodoxy and conventional wisdom; it also may place the United States in a different position than its key Asian allies.

Pyongyang has been a main focus of his visit and public speeches so far, during which he's stuck fast to the U.S. message that the "era of strategic patience is over".

But economic policy advisers traveling with Pence reportedly said the trip is also aimed at reassuring Washington's allies that the current administration wants to boost trade in the Asia Pacific region particularly after the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. "We are going to make it clear to the regime in Pyongyang that the days of broken promises, the days of running out the clock on agreements with the wider world are over".

The nuclear test is yet to happen, but Pyongyang tested a missile Sunday which ended in failure. Vice President Mike Pence said on an Asian tour this week that the era of "strategic patience" with North Korea is over.

"You're aware that the leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile", he recently told reporters.

"It is our belief by bringing together the family of nations with diplomatic and economic pressure we have a chance of achieving a freeze on the Korean Peninsula", said Pence.

Pence pointed to reports of China turning away coal exports from North Korea as an example of the new USA strategy bearing fruit.

There has been much discussion in Washington about Pence's short visit to the demilitarized zone, where he stood outside the Freedom House on the South Korean side of the border and stared into North Korea.

Washington's top diplomat said during his visit to Seoul that all options including military action are on the table to counter North Korea's threats.

But data from China's customs department showed the value of North Korean imports to China for the first quarter of 2017 increased 18.4% compared to the same time frame a year earlier.

The U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement Wednesday that the USS Carl Vinson strike group is heading to the western Pacific "as a prudent measure".

Pence said the Trump Administration would move more of its most advanced military assets into the Asia-Pacific region. Since then, Japan has attempted to prioritize talks on fields in which the two countries can cooperate, such as energy and investment in infrastructure and to prevent the trade imbalance from emerging as a point of contention, according to a senior official of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry. "And those who challenge our resolve for our readiness should know we will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons with an overwhelming and effective American response".

"Short of launching a shock and awe campaign which would be overwhelming in its breadth and scale there's not a lot else the U.S. and its allies can do other than tighten the constrictor grip on the North", said Alex Neill, a senior fellow at the Shangri-La Dialogue.

CNN's Dana Bash reported from on board the USS Ronald Reagan, while CNN's Joshua Berlinger reported and wrote from Hong Kong.