The Unification Ministry says it has not confirmed a Japanese report saying a person in North Korea came down with bird flu last month.

A ministry official on Wednesday said the government has heard nothing about a human infection officially or nonofficially from Pyongyang since the North reported an outbreak in March last year.

The official did acknowledge, however, that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in November last year ordered quarantine measures and a warning after China reported an infection the month before.

Quoting a Japanese government source, the Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun said that a woman in Pyongyang was hospitalized after showing bird flu symptoms and that Kim asked for Beijing's support in his recent trip to China.