North Korea‘s leader Kim Jong-un has been fueling fears of a possible attack against the United States and its allies with its failure to heed calls to denuclearise.
US President Donald Trump said “all options remain on the table” to ensure North Korea abides by international calls to give up its nuclear development programme.
Mr Pence once again confirmed the US is prepared to do whatever it takes in order to “defend the homeland.”
He said: “We are going to make it crystal clear that our military, Japanese self-defence forces, our allies here in South Korea and all of our allies across the region are fully prepared to defend our nations and take whatever action is necessary to defend our homeland.
North Korea has been inflaming fears of World War 3 with its refusal to stop developing its missile arsenal in spite of harsh UN sanctions crippling the rogue state.
Despite recent signs suggesting Kim Jong-un could be finally opening up to diplomatic talks with Seoul, Mr Pence added the United States will continue to put pressure on Pyongyang to ease concerns about World War 3.
Speaking to NBC News the Vice President continued: “President Trump and our allies in the region have agreed to delay our military exercises until after the Olympics and President Moon has appreciated that.
“But we are going to continue to put all the pressure to bear economically and diplomatically while preserving all our military options.”
North Korea has used a military parade on the eve of the Pyeongchang Olympics to show off its latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which Pyongyang claims has the range to target the entire mainland USA as well as Britain.
In a massive show of force ahead of the iconic sporting event, the Kim regime rolled out the Hwasong-15 rockets and their mobile launchers alongside some 13,000 troops.
The rogue state says the weapon is its “most powerful” to date, and experts believe the ICBM has a range of around 8,077 miles (13,000km).
Other hardware on parade on Kim Il-sung Square included tanks, artillery pieces and anti-aircraft guns.
The parade came on the same day the North announced it has no intention of meeting with officials from the US during the games at Pyeongchang in South Korea, which open on Friday just 50 miles from the heavily armed border separating the two Koreas.
There had been hopes the event would provide a chance for senior figures from the Kim regime to open up a dialogue with US representatives, if only on the sidelines.