The inter-Korean Gyeongui railway connecting South Korea's Munsan and Bongdong in the North won't be operating from Monday through Friday.

Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon says Pyongyang has asked for the five-day suspension in memoriam of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung.

North Korean officials said that train operators will be difficult to come to work from Pyongyang during the memorial period and that the move is irrelevant to inter-Korean relations.

A cargo train has been running on the Gyeongui rail once a day, Monday through Friday, since December eleventh of last year.