Mexico's ambassador to Seoul, Leandro Arellano, has reportedly asked North Korea to allow international envoys to visit the communist country via overland routes.

Arellano is concurrently an ambassador to South and North Korea and Mongolia.

The Mexican Embassy said on Thursday that the diplomat had made the request on behalf of other envoys in Seoul who are concurrently ambassadors to the two Koreas when he visited Pyongyang on July 24th to present his credentials to Kim Yong-nam, the North's nominal head of state.

However, an embassy official said that the North stopped short of approving the proposal, only saying it would consider the request.

Eleven countries, including New Zealand, the Netherlands and Belgium, have envoys in Seoul who concurrently serve as ambassadors to North Korea.