North Korea may inch open its long-closed doors to the outside world in May next year.

China's official Xinhua News Agency quoted on Friday a Commerce Department official at the North Korean Embassy in China as saying that a four-day international exposition will convene in Pyongyang on May 16th next year.

The Exposition, along with the 8th Pyongyang International Trade Fair, would reportedly mark the communist country's first large-scale international trade event in its history.

According to the North's Embassy official, Pyongyang has already invited some 300 companies from the U.S. and Europe to participate in the exposition.