Japanese media say Tokyo has permitted the entry of North Korean officials into Japan for the first time since October 2006.

Kyodo News and other Japanese media said Tuesday that a three-member delegation arrived in Tokyo on Monday night to attend a meeting of the Olympic Council of Asia that opens Thursday in the Japanese capital.

The delegation is led by North Korean Olympic Committee Vice President Song Kwang-ho.

Japan banned the entry of North Korean nationals in October 2006 to sanction the communist state following a nuclear test Pyongyang conducted that month.