Hundreds of security experts and government officials from the Asia-Pacific countries gathered in Seoul on Wednesday to participate in a multilateral security forum aimed at seeking ways to build military trust in the region, Seoul's defense ministry said.

Under the theme of "From Conflict to Cooperation: Measures for Trust-building among Asia-Pacific Countries," the 2014 Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD), the vice ministerial-level forum launched in 2012, kicked off in Seoul for a three-day run.

It brought together senior defense officials and security experts from 24 countries as well as those from three international organizations of the United Nations, the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

Among the participating nations include the U.S., Japan, China and Russia, the ministry said, noting that China sent its first delegation to the Seoul forum in a move to expand bilateral military cooperation with South Korea.

After the representative conference on Wednesday, the experts and officials are to take part in two plenary sessions and four sub-theme sessions starting Thursday on military trust-building and conflict prevention, humanitarian aid and disaster relief, maritime security, cyber security cooperation and international norms, according to the ministry.

On the sidelines of the forum, South Korea's Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo plans to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts, including Hideshi Tokuchi, director general of the Japanese Defense Ministry's Defense Policy Bureau, aiming "to boost understanding about the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and to garner support from the international community," the ministry said.

"The forum will serve as the venue to explore ways to build trust in military terms among the Asia-Pacific countries and to create a consensus on the need for reunification of the Korean Peninsula," the ministry said in a statement.

The forum comes as the inter-Korean relations stand at a critical juncture.

Earlier this month, high-level officials from the two held talks in South Korea's western port city of Incheon, where they agreed to hold another meeting before early November at the latest, raising hopes of a thaw in the icy inter-Korean relations. But Pyongyang hinted at calling it off, citing cross-border tensions. (Yonhap)