Canada and the United States announced Tuesday they will host a summit of foreign ministers in Vancouver on January 16, including envoys from Japan and South Korea, to seek progress on the North Korean nuclear crisis.

"We believe a diplomatic solution to the crisis is essential and possible," Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told a joint press conference with visiting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson said the meeting would seek to further increase pressure on North Korea to come to the table to negotiate an end to its nuclear program.

This could include "other steps that could be taken to put additional pressure on the regime in North Korea," as well as preparing for the prospects of talks, he said.

"We (will) continue to find ways to advance the pressure campaign against North Korea," Tillerson said, "to send North Korea a unified message from the international community that we will not accept you as... a nuclear weapons nation, and that all of us share one policy and one goal -- the full complete verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

The United States has asked the UN Security Council to blacklist ten ships for carrying banned cargo from North Korea, according to the request obtained by AFP on Tuesday.

The vessels including two Hong Kong-flagged ships and two North Korean tankers will be barred from entry into ports worldwide if the council approves the request.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Moon Jae-In has proposed delaying major joint military exercises with the US that always infuriate Pyongyang until after the Olympics, he said.

It was the first confirmation that Seoul is seeking to postpone the annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drills, which usually start in late February or early March and run until the end of April.