U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with a high-ranking South Korean official in London and discussed ways to help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Seoul officials said Friday.

The meeting with Lee Suk-joon, a lead officer for government policy coordination at the prime minister's office, took place on the sidelines of an international donors' conference on Thursday, according to the Prime Minister's Office.

Ban expressed hope that the Seoul government will continue to provide aid to the country that has been affected by a civil war for the past five years, the office reported.

Seoul will provide $12 million won in aid this year, adding to a total $23.45 million sent to Syria between 2012 and 2015, according to the office.

The participating countries at the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference plan to provide an accumulative $9 billion this year.

South Korea is the first country in the world that has transformed into an aid donor from a recipient nation. (Yonhap)