The government wants to exchange a list of 100 passengers to ride in Thursday's test run of inter-Korean railways instead of signing a military security agreement with North Korea.

An official in Seoul said Tuesday that in principle, the two Koreas must sign the agreement for the test run but must consider the list exchange due to lack of time.

He said the government made the proposal Tuesday morning to Pyongyang and is hoping for a positive response.

Even if Pyongyang accepts the offer, the agreement will be effective only for the Thursday test run.