South Korea said Thursday it will hold an exhibition on unification next week, hoping that the event can help raise awareness about inter-Korean unification amid frayed Seoul-Pyongyang ties.

The exhibition on unification will run from next Friday to next Sunday at Gwanghwamun Plaza and a park near the government complex and will involve 141 organizations including local governments, civic groups and media companies, according to the Ministry of Unification.

The event will be the second of its kind following the exhibition held last year to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and inter-Korean division.

"Inter-Korean relations remain strained, but we hope that the expo can serve as an occasion to think about the meaning of unification," said a ministry official.

This year's event features photo exhibitions, food-tasting events and a concert.

The ministry also said that goods produced by South Korean firms that used to run factories at a joint industrial complex in North Korea will be on sale.

A total of 13 such firms will take part in the event. Seoul shut down the Kaesong Industrial Complex on Feb. 10 in response to the North's nuclear and missile provocations early this year, it said. The factory zone housed 124 South Korean firms. (Yonhap)