U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Japan on Monday on the first leg of his Asian and Oceanian tour to attend regional summits later this week.

On Tuesday, Pence is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss the denuclearization of North Korea, as well as bilateral cooperation to promote a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region and economy, Japanese officials said.

After Tokyo, Pence will attend annual meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore and a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Papua New Guinea, on behalf of President Donald Trump.

Between Singapore and Papua New Guinea, Pence will stop over in Australia, according to the White House.

On the fringes of the multilateral meetings, the U.S. vice president is expected to hold bilateral talks with world leaders, including Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, it said.