Seoul, Aug 19 (IANS): South Korean President Park Geun-hye Tuesday again urged North Korea to accept a proposal to resume inter-Korean cooperation in non-political areas.

Park had made the proposal last Friday in a televised speech on Liberation Day marking the 69th anniversary of the peninsula's liberation from Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, Xinhua reported.

The proposal included cooperation in river and forest management, the start of infrastructure development in North Korea and reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

She also invited the North Korean delegation to join the 12th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which will be held in South Korea's Pyeongchang city later this year.

The three-week UN bio-diversity conference with 20,000 attendees from 193 countries will be held from Sept 29 to Oct 19.

It was unclear whether Pyongyang would accept the proposal as South Korea and the US launched the Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint military exercise Monday despite North Korea's strong opposition to it.