North Korea has proposed to China's Liaoning Province a joint project building an expressway linking Dandong in the northeastern Chinese province with the North Korean city of Gaesong, a source familiar with North Korean affairs said Monday.

According to the source, the North Korean authorities made the proposal that they and the Liaoning provincial government will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the project on July 27.

North Korea initially wanted to push ahead with the project in April, but "put it off due to the toughest-yet sanctions on the North handed down by the U.N. Security Council in March" following its fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch early this year, the source said.

According to the source, the construction project was agreed upon between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Liu Yunshan, the Chinese Communist Party's fifth-ranked official, during Liu’s visit to Pyongyang last October to attend the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Worker’s Party of Korea.

The North's proposal also showed that its Ryong Rim Trade Co. and Liaoning Luqiao Construction General Co. will manage the project respectively, the source said.