The South Korean government is expecting inter-Korean railway projects will take some time before kicking into high gear. 

An official of the Unification Ministry relayed the ministry’s stance in a meeting with reporters on Tuesday, a day after South and North Korea agreed to launch projects to connect their roads and railways in late November or early December. 

The official said even if a ground-breaking ceremony is held, it will not be easy to start the project in earnest as it will be winter. The official added conditions need to be ripe for full-fledged inter-Korean cooperation. 

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon also told reporters on Monday that chances are slim the ground-breaking ceremony will be immediately followed by construction, adding specific schedules will be determined through joint inspections by engineers from the two Koreas. 

Some speculate the schedules for projects will likely be determined based on the progress of the denuclearization of the North.  

Before launching the project, the two Koreas plan to begin a joint field study for the Gyeongui Line that used to connect Seoul to the North's Sinuiju in late October and for the Donghae Line that connected Busan and the North's Wonsan in early November.