North Korea's sole trade union called for a working level meeting with South Korean counterparts to arrange the inter-Korean football match in August, the communist country's state-run media said Friday.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the letter sent to the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) suggested holding a meeting in late May in China. The North's General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (GFTUK), however, said the date and place for the contact can be set by the FKTU and KCTU.

The letter said that this year's football friendly should take place on Aug. 15 in Seoul and that this is supported by the North organizing committee in charge of pushing forward the sports event.

Aug. 15 is a key holiday for both Koreas as it marks liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-45).

The latest report comes after the North's main propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said earlier in the week that a South Korean civic group has proposed holding friendly football matches between workers from the two Koreas to promote cross-border civilian exchanges.

The South Korean Committee for the Joint Implementation of the June 15 Summit Declaration has offered to hold the games in the South Korean capital. (Yonhap)

   The invitation was made as cross-border relations have deteriorated to the lowest point in years after Pyongyang's nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch in February.

   Seoul has suspended almost all inter-Korean civilian exchanges and not allowed South Koreans to visit North Korea.

   South and North Korea's labor unions previously held football games in Pyongyang to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule in 2015.

   South Korea's unification ministry already said that the move to arrange a football event is not appropriate, given the current grave situation on the peninsula.