Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung has expressed hope for a partial opening of the reconnected cross-border railways whithin this year.

In an interview with KBS, Lee noted that the two Koreas discussed normalizing cross-border train service at an earliest possible date during the economic cooperation talks and military talks last month.

He went on to say that a permanent security measure for train operations would also help the North's economic development, and thus the two sides would be able to come to understanding on the security issue without much difficulty.

On providing 400-thousand tons of rice aid to the North, the minister said the government may adjust the timing of shipment, depending on implementation of the February six-party nuclear agreement.

But he said he hopes the North will remove obstacles for rice aide by implementing the agreement by the end of this month.