SEOUL — The South Korean national rail operator will invite its North Korean counterpart to Seoul for an international railway conference in late spring, its head said Thursday.

"North Korea is a formal member of the Organization for Co-operation between Railways and has shown many activities in it. I expect it to join us in this Seoul conference," Choi Yeon-hye, the president & CEO of the Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) said in a press conference on Thursday.