State media in North Korea said the country has set up a steering committee for an inter-Korean workers' football tournament to mark the 71st anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial occupation in August.

The North's Korean Central News Agency said that members of the North Korean Trade Union central committee, trade unions by each industry, and local union chapters in Pyongyang and elsewhere attended the launch of the steering committee held Wednesday.

The report said that those who spoke at the event expressed confidence that the planned football tournament will provide a great opportunity to ease cross-border confrontation, improve ties and realize reconciliation and unity of the Korean people.

On Wednesday, South Korea's two major umbrella unions, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, also formed a joint steering committee for the inter-Korean event. 

The two groups pledged to exert unrelenting efforts on all fronts to host the unification football match in Seoul on August 15th.