"At the international gathering, the South Korean government will try to rally international support for its policy of seeking fence-mending with North Korea and a peaceful resolution of North Korean nuclear issues through the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics," Noh said.

The US and Canada have said they will search for ways to stiffen sanctions and pressure on North Korea and to prepare for the resumption of talks with the regime, the spokesman also noted.

The Vancouver meeting brings together top diplomats from countries that sent troops to the South Korean side during the 1950-53 civil war, plus Japan, India and Sweden. The US has said the meeting is designed to boost the effects of international sanctions on North Korea.

In a meeting with Kang on Monday in Vancouver, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged her country's solidarity with South Korea in dealing with North Korean nuclear issues, the foreign ministry said.

Kang and Freeland met on the sidelines of the international event, which Canada is co-hosting with the US

Kang told her Canadian counterpart that the Vancouver meeting is an opportune chance to send out a message of international solidarity on the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue and peace building on the Korean Peninsula.

The South Korean minister also communicated the results of the recent high-level inter-Korean talks to Freeland, stressing that any progress in inter-Korean ties would not deviate from international efforts to denuclearize the North, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Canadian foreign minister voiced her support for South Korea's pursuit of a peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the nuclear issue and said Canada would take advantage of the Vancouver meeting to express its solidarity with South Korea, the ministry said.

They also pledged their joint efforts for South Korea's successful hosting of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. (Yonhap)