North Korea expected to be central part of Biden's meetings with South Korea - CNN

Officials said in their first meeting, the US president was hoping to cultivate a willing economic partner who can also help advance collective security goals in the broader Asia-Pacific.

Also up for discussion will be Russia's war in Ukraine, trade and the prospect of assisting North Korea confront a recent surge of coronavirus by sharing vaccines, a senior administration official said ahead of the talks.

Biden will convene a news conference and later attend a state dinner as he embarks upon his debut visit to Asia.

Speaking shortly after arriving Friday, Biden said the region he is visiting for the first time will prove critical in the years and decades to come.

"So much of the future of the world is going to be written here, in the Indo-Pacific, in the next several decades," Biden said, reiterating his desire -- also shared by his most recent predecessors -- to pivot US foreign policy to focus on Asia even as the world's attention is consumed by the war in Ukraine.

"We're standing at an inflection point in history, where the decisions we make today will have far-reaching impact on the world we're leaving to our children tomorrow," Biden said.

Biden hopes to reassure his hosts in Seoul and Tokyo he remains committed to two of the most important US alliances, even as his attention has been consumed by Russia's war in Ukraine and after his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, threatened to withdraw American troops from the Korean peninsula.

By contrast, Biden has put the US force posture in Korea on full display during his visit, greeting the Army commander of US Force Korea when he arrived at Osan Air Base, outside Seoul, on Friday evening.

He was expected to meet with US troops later in his visit.

US allies in Asia, as they do around the world, have looked to Biden to reaffirm traditional alliances as regional tensions boil over.