Vice President Mike Pence assured Japan that the USA supports them "100 percent" in the hopes to defuse risks from North Korea's nuclear programme.
Pence, during an address in Seoul, said this is a "challenging time" for everyone.
Pence also told gathered servicemembers from both USA and Japanese forces that Tokyo will "assume a larger role and responsibility" within its security alliance with Washington.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and US Vice President Mike Pence shake hands prior to a luncheon hosted by Abe at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 18, 2017.
"But at the same time", the prime minister said, "dialogue for the sake of dialogue is valueless and it is necessary for us to exercise pressure North Korea so that it comes forward and engages in this serious dialogue". "That's an alliance decision back, I guess, over a year ago now or about a year ago, and we have been sort of continuing apace in that decision", she said.
China has called for a return to multi-sided talks that ended in a stalemate in 2009, during the rule of North Korea's previous leader, Kim Jong Il.
On Sunday, as part of celebrations to mark the birthday of late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, state television aired a concert which included a video showing the USA engulfed in flames.
The term "reckless" is one the North Koreans have used to describe ongoing large-scale US and South Korean military exercises, which the North calls a dress rehearsal for an invasion.
Speaking with reporters on his way to the Middle East, Mattis said the most recent test was not an intercontinental ballistic missile but still a reckless move.
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This slip-up was only the most recent comment that caused confusion about whether Trump is all there mentally. He said on Twitter that talks would be "difficult" due to US manufacturing job losses he blames on the world's second-largest economy and the growing trade deficit between the countries.
"My hope is that they'll continue to get the message not just from the United States, here in Japan, and in South Korea, but on an increasing basis from China and countries all over the world committing to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula".
Tokyo - US President Donald Trump has hailed China for assisting the US in exerting pressure on North Korea. But no one was predicting what might come next.
"Look, you always have to be concerned", Trump told CNN affiliate WTMJ in Wisconsin.
A fresh United States warning by Vice President Mike Pence has come with references to USA actions in Syria and Afghanistan and could, therefore, mean that Washington may not shy away from taking a similar action against North Korea. Analysts argue the North Korean threat has remained steady since it first tested a nuclear weapon in 2006. While Obama's strategic patience doctrine often receives bipartisan criticism, Lavrov questioned the accuracy of the label given previous USA led sanctions against the DPRK.
"The U.S. has been clear that we want to resolve this issue through the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula", she added.
USA officials say new sanctions could include an oil embargo, a global ban on North Korea's airline, intercepting cargo ships and punishing Chinese banks doing business with Pyongyang.
Burns reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and AP reporter Jonathan Lemire reported from NY.
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