While the USA will continue to pursue diplomatic solutions, any conventional or nuclear attack by an enemy would be defeated "with an overwhelming and effective American response", Pence told the crowd aboard the ship Wednesday.
North Korea regularly threatens to destroy the United States and amid heightened tension on the Korean peninsula, it has escalated a war of words, warning of full-out nuclear war if Washington takes military action against it.
Speaking aboard the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft-carrier at its home port of Yokosuka, Japan, Pence said the United States remained unwavering in the face of the threat posed by the North, which has conducted a series of missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN sanctions.
The North has said such launches are an act of deterrence against a potential invasion by the United States or South Korea.
Mr Pence's speech on the aircraft carrier followed meetings in Tokyo on Tuesday with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, where he noted that "all options are on the table".
The talks are in line with US President Donald Trump's vow to focus on bilateral trade deals rather than multilateral ones that he says have damaged the United States.
From two continents, Pence and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned that North Korea's latest failed missile launch was a reckless act of provocation and assured allies in Asia that the USA was ready to work to achieve a peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
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Court documents also show Muhammad "suffered auditory hallucinations and had at least two prior mental health hospitalisations". Police have said they think race was a factor in Tuesday's shootings, but they haven't discussed a motive in the guard's death.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has arrived in Japan for the second stop of a 10-day Asia tour.
Mr Abe said it was a "matter of paramount importance for us to seek diplomatic efforts as well peaceable settlements of the issue".
White House officials say the meetings in Tokyo are meant to forge a framework for future discussions after the USA withdrew from a Pacific Rim trade pact.
In Tokyo, there is still hope that the core of the agreement, thrashed out between the United States and Japan and meant to counterbalance China's regional economic power, can be salvaged in some form. The tests have grown in sophistication each time, U.S officials said.
Behind the heated rhetoric, Trump's strategy in the region looks somewhat similar to predecessor Barack Obama's - albeit with the added unpredictability of a new president who has shown he's willing to use force.
Pence's comments during his tour of the region come days after North Korean tested on April 16 a missile that blew up nearly immediately after launch, according to the Pentagon. But Pence expressed impatience with the unwillingness of the regime to move toward ridding itself of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. "China's stance on this is unswerving", Lu said.
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