North Korea has proposed holding the 22nd round of inter-Korean ministerial talks in mid-September in Pyongyang.

A South Korean official said Friday that the North delivered the proposal to Seoul's Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung in a telephone message earlier in the day.

The official said the two sides will decide on a concrete schedule after consultations through a document exchange.

The last inter-Korean ministerial talks held in Seoul ended in early June without tangible results after North Korea protested the South's decision to withhold rice aid until Pyongyang took initial nuclear disarmament steps.