McMaster said the USA hasn't had reliable allies in Afghanistan in the past, but hopes that will change with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in power.
Pence and South Korean acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn, speaking a day after a failed missile test by the North and two days after a huge display of missiles in Pyongyang, also said they would strengthen anti-North Korea defenses by moving ahead with the early deployment of the THAAD missile defense system.
The joint U.S. -South Korean military camp is just outside the 2.5-mile-wide DMZ.
North Korea's actions come as tensions on the Korean Peninsula have spiked.
"This is a challenging time all over the world, but especially here in the Asia-Pacific".
Lavrov told journalists in Moscow that if Pence's words can be understood as a threat to take unilateral action against North Korea, "then this is a very risky path".
"But the era of strategic patience is over, " Mr Pence said.
The US president has indicated he will not allow North Korea to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the western United States.
North Korea's ultimate goal is to have a full array of nuclear-tipped missiles in response to what Pyongyang says is hostility by Washington and Seoul meant to topple its government.
On the same program, Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster indicated military force is a last resort.
"It's time for us to undertake all actions we can, short of a military option, to try to resolve this peacefully", he said on ABC's "This Week" programme. The administration's immediate emphasis, the officials said, will be on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of Beijing.
"North Korea showing a variety of offensive missiles at yesterday's military parade and daring to fire a ballistic missile today is a show of force that threatens the whole world", South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Trump used the language in his February visit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "But dialogue for the sake of having dialogue is meaningless".
Finally, and most importantly, we are well past the point where it is makes sense to open talks with North Korea - as repulsive as that sounds.
The failed launch occurred as Pence was flying over the Bering Sea on his way to Seoul, the first stop on a four-nation Asia tour meant to show America's allies - and remind its adversaries - that the Trump administration is not turning its back on the increasingly volatile region.
Trump reportedly looking to oust Bannon and Priebus amid feud with Kushner
A new memorandum about the council's composition was published Wednesday in the Federal Register. Recently, Bannon was removed from hisNational Security Council post by President Trump.
North Korea's state-run TV station mentioned the name of the special operation forces after the navy, the air force and the strategic forces at the parade.
Pence called North Korea's failed ballistic missile test a "provocation" before gathered U.S. military personnel.
The Pence visit to Seoul is the third by top officials from the Trump Administration, following visits by Secretary of Defense James Mattis in February and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March.
"We had good intelligence before the launch and good intelligence after the launch", the adviser told reporters on condition of anonymity.
At his Florida resort for the Easter weekend, Trump trumpeted the US's own military capabilities. China's customs department issued an order on April 7 telling traders to return North Korean coal cargoes, trading sources said. Last week, he said he would not declare China a currency manipulator, pulling back from a campaign promise, as he looks for help from Beijing, which is the North's dominant trade partner.
On Sunday morning, President Donald Trump tweeted about his newfound friendship with China in regard to North Korea. We will see what happens!"Trump said on Twitter".
Another semi-covert approach would be for Washington to use electronic warfare or cyber attacks to disable North Korean missiles during or shortly after their launch. He said the American commitment to South Korea is "iron-clad and immutable".
This is Pence's first trip to the Korean peninsula since assuming office in January.
Pence, who visited the National Cemetery in Seoul Sunday to lay a wreath, will go on to Japan, Indonesia and Australia.
This latest missile test just fits into a pattern of provocative and destabilizing and threatening behaviour on the part of the North Korean regime.
With speculation mounting that the North is preparing to conduct a sixth nuclear test, he sent an aircraft carrier-led strike group to the Korean peninsula.
A White House foreign policy adviser says the type of missile that North Korea tried to fire on Sunday was medium-range, and that it exploded 4-5 seconds after it was launched.
Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
His 10-day tour of Asia comes as tensions grow in the wake of North Korea's latest missile test.
Recent satellite images suggest its main nuclear site is "primed and ready", according to specialist United States website 38North.
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