President Donald Trump warned North Korea Monday that it needs to keep its nuclear ambitions in check.

'Gotta behave,' he said to a reporter who asked him about the Asian country's failed missile test this morning as he departed the White House Easter Egg Roll.

North Korea had a ballistic missile fizzle out Sunday as Vice President Mike Pence was traveling to the Korean Peninsula.

Tempers were running hot heading into the weekend, with North Korea saying Friday that the countries were on brink of war after Trump characterized the country as a problem that he said the US and its allies would take care.

Pence layered on the threats Monday in Seoul, as he stood next to the acting president of South Korea.

'The era of strategic patience is over,' Pence said.

President Donald Trump warned North Korea Monday that it needed to keep its nuclear ambitions in check. 'Gotta behave,' he said

Trump told Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earnhardt in an interview later that he hopes 'things work out well' with North Korea and there will be peace between the United States and the communist government.

'But they’ve been talking with this gentleman for a long time,' he said, referring to North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong-un.

Trump had previously latched on to conservative claims that his tough talk toward North Korea and military strikes in Afghanistan and Syria had 'exposed the total failures' of Barack Obama's foreign policies after Earnhardt's Fox & Friends co-hosts brought it up on Monday's program.

The president told her later the Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were 'outplayed' by Kim.

'You read [Bill] Clinton’s book and he said "Oh, we made such a great peace deal" and it was a joke. You look at different things over the years with President Obama,' he said. 'Everybody has been out played. They’ve all been outplayed by this gentleman and we’ll see what happens. I just don’t telegraph my moves.'

Pence also hit the previous administration in a news conference from Seoul.

'Strategic patience has been the approach of the last American administration and beyond,' he said. 'For more than two decades, the United States and our allies have worked to peacefully dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program and alleviate the suffering of their people.'

Continuing he said, 'At every step of the way, North Korea answered our overtures with willful deception, broken promises, and nuclear and missile tests.'

Pence similarly told CNN, as he visited the Demilitarized Zone between North Korea and South Korea, 'We're going to abandon the failed policy of strategic patience. But we're going to redouble our efforts to bring diplomatic and economic pressure to bear on North Korea. Our hope is that we can resolve this issue peaceably.'

North Korea threatened to launch weekly missile tests in response.

The country's Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-Ryo, said, 'We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.'

He also said that an 'all out war' was a possibility if the US responded by taking military action against Pyongyang.

North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador accused Washington after of turning the Korean peninsula into 'the world's biggest hotspot' and creating 'a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment.'

Kim In Ryong told a news conference today that U.S.-South Korean military exercises being staged now are the largest-ever 'aggressive war drill.'

He said North Korea's measures to bolster its nuclear forces are self-defensive 'to cope with the US vicious nuclear threat and blackmail.' Kim said his country 'is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US.'

Vice President Mike Pence layered on the threats Monday in Seoul, as he stood next to the acting president of South Korea. 'The era of strategic patience is over,' he said

President Trump has ordered a naval strike group, led by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, to the region, though the vessels remain a long way from the peninsula.

But this morning, Japanese media claimed both China and Russia had dispatched intelligence-gathering vessels from their navies to chase the 'armada' amid mounting concern over the US deployment. The claims were made by multiple sources of the Japanese government, according to The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

Russia today warned Washington against launching a unilateral strike on North Korea claiming the US was on a 'risky path'.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: 'We do not accept the reckless nuclear missile actions of Pyongyang that breach UN resolutions, but that does not mean that you can break international law. I hope that there will not be any unilateral actions like the one we saw recently in Syria.'

Last night, the US refused to rule out a pre-emptive strike on North Korea as Trump's national security adviser warned the situation was 'coming to a head'.

After the rogue state ran a missile test that failed, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said 'all our options are on the table' to try to 'avoid the worst'.

Frantic talks were taking place with allies including China to 'develop a range of options' in an attempt to quell tensions and calm fears of thermo-nuclear war.

The US, its allies and China are working together on a range of responses to North Korea's latest failed ballistic missile test, Trump's national security adviser said, citing what he called an international consensus to act.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that Saturday's failed North Korean missile launch was an 'unsuccessful military attack'

Trump added fuel to the fire Sunday, saying he had been forced to beef up his military.

On Twitter, the President wrote: 'Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before. Frankly, we have no choice.'

Pence and South Korean acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn said Monday that they were troubled by retaliatory moves by China against the deployment of in South Korea of a US anti-missile system known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).

'The United States is troubled by China's economic retaliation against South Korea for taking appropriate steps to defend itself,' the Vice President said.

In his remarks the vice president specifically referred to the episode from the weekend as a 'failed missile launch' Monday as he slapped North Korea for conducting unlawful nuclear tests and and illicit ballistic missile tests.

But White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on Monday that the ballistic missile test was an 'unsuccessful military attack,' adding a new wrinkle to an episode that has ramped up political tensions in the far East.

Spicer's characterization of the test launch, which saw the missile explode seconds after liftoff, was the first suggestion that Kim's rogue regime may have been trying to strike a strategic target.

If that were the case, it would support the theory that the U.S. intentionally sabotaged the launch.

'Watching another unsuccessful military attack ensures that we continue to keep safe not just South Korea – other areas of the region safe – but it is good for the world,' Spicer said during an interview on 'Fox & Friends.'

The stunning statement om 'Fox & Friends' suggests that the missile, which exploded seconds after liftoff, had a strategic target

Vice President Mike Pence said in South Korea that America's era of 'strategic patience' with Pyongyang has come to an end

Spicer said later that he misspoke after DailyMail.com asked him about the claim at the White House daily briefing.

He said 'it was an unsuccessful launch,' indicating twice that he has no special knowledge of a planned attack.

'It was an unsuccessful missile launch,' he said a second time when pressed.

Last week Spicer claimed the Nazi regime during World War II didn't deploy chemical weapons, later undertaking an apology tour on cable and broadcast news networks.

North Korea is thought to be closing in on the ability to fire a nuclear warhead at long-range targets, which would upset the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.

A reporter brought up Spicer's dismissal at a previous briefing of North Korea as a fake threat. 'I don't think that...threatening something that you don't have the capability of isn't really a threat,' he'd said.

Spicer said then that 'there's no evidence' that North Korea has the 'capability at this time' to carry out a nuclear attack. 'So I don't know that that could happen.'

The reporter asked Spicer today what had changed and whether the administration's no-nonsense rhetoric is just 'smoke and mirrors to hide some of the problems on the White House staff, some of the failings of his domestic social agenda.'

'I think, I don't think there's anybody in the world who did not believe that North Korea's actions aren't both provocative and of concern,' Spicer tersely responded. 'So the actions we're taking ... they're appropriate and justified.'

Spicer has a reputation for misspeaking with imprecise language, meaning that his pronouncement about a North Korean military 'attack' may have no basis in fact

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said on the same Fox News Channel broadcast that President Donald Trump 'will take action' if it's warranted

This morning White House chief counselor Kellyanne Conway suggested that U.S. action to disrupt the weekend's launch wouldn't be out of the question.

Referring to Vice President Mike Pence's comments in Seoul on Monday, she said he 'made very clear that the administration would like to go through peaceful means.

'But between the airstrikes in Syria and Afghanistan, this administration has made very clear that it will take action when it feels it is appropriate.'

Pence warned Pyongyang that 'the era of strategic patience is over,' and insisted America's commitment to South Korea is 'iron-clad.'

Conway said that if there are more missile launches in North Korea, 'President Trump will do what he always does, which is consult with his National Security Council, his generals, his cabinet' before deciding on a response.

And Spicer cautioned that 'we're prepared for multiple contingencies.'

'This president has been very clear that he's not going to telegraph his response to any particular threat before it needs to happen,' he said.

Describing this administration's position on North Korean aggression, Spicer highlighted the administration's 'stepped up' efforts to get China to use its economic influence on North Korea to force Kim Jong-un's hand.

The Obama administration's policy of strategic patience amounted to a game of 'wait and see,' he said.

'That policy is not one that is prudent,' Spicer stated.

But asked about the administration's own policies and the role it expects China to play in the escalating conflict, he said, 'Let's see how that goes.'

Meanwhile Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is warning the Trump administration against launching a unilateral pre-emptive strike on North Korea, claiming the U.S. is on a 'risky path.'

'We do not accept the reckless nuclear missile actions of Pyongyang that breach UN resolutions, but that does not mean that you can break international law,' Lavrov said. 'I hope that there will not be any unilateral actions like the one we saw recently in Syria.'

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said Sunday night that tensions on the Korean peninsula are 'coming to a head,' adding that 'all our options are on the table' to try to 'avoid the worst.'

Trump's son Eric said on 'Fox & Friends' that his father 'will keep America safe.'

'You pray for peace, but he will show real leadership, and that's something that hasn't occurred in the past. And it will start occurring,' the younger Trump said.

'And you saw that quite frankly in Syria and you saw that in Afghanistan. And he will take action if he needs to take action.'

'You have to have massive backbone when it comes to dealing with awful, awful dictators who don't like us, don't like our way of life,' he added.

Later, at his briefing, Spicer said Trump would not put forward a 'red line' when it comes to action in North Korea as he reiterated the administration's willingness to take whatever action is necessary.

'I don't think you're going to see the president drawing red lines in the sand,' he said.