North Korea has refused entry to a Japanese government mission planning to inspect the distribution and use of rice shipments provided by Tokyo, Foreign Ministry officials said Wednesday.
The mission, which was supposed to visit North Korea from Tuesday to Saturday, was told at the last minute on Tuesday in Beijing that Pyongyang had not finalized arrangements for the visit, officials said.
North Korea repeated Wednesday that it was not ready to receive the mission, prompting the Japanese government to postpone the inspection and recall the mission to Japan for the time being, the officials said.
The ministry officials expressed regret at the postponement and said the government will try to reschedule the visit as soon as possible, given the importance of the monitoring task.
The mission members are Shigekazu Sato, deputy director general of the ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and two other ministry staff. They were accompanied by lawmakers Yasuhisa Shiozaki and Makoto Taki.
Japan has been sending shipments of rice to North Korea since deciding in October to donate 500,000 tons through the U.N. World Food Program. The organization has been appealing to the international community to provide food support to North Korea as the country faces chronic food shortages and economic difficulties. The WFP had earlier informed Japan that North Korea had given the green light for the mission.