South and North Korea have postponed a joint inspection of a section of the railway along North Korea's west coast scheduled to start Friday to next week. 

The Unification Ministry’s deputy spokesperson, Lee Eugene, told reporters on Friday that the joint inspection of the section on the Gyeongui Line linking Gaeseong and Pyongyang will begin on Monday. 

The joint inspection was initially set to begin on Friday and run through next Friday but the North requested late Thursday that the effort begin from Monday, without providing an explanation for the delay.

Once the joint inspection of the Gyeongui Line is completed, the two Koreas will carry out inspections on sections of the railway on the North's east coast. 

The inspections are part of measures to reconnect and modernize inter-Korean railways.