Russia’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed media reports that North Korea asked to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok as an observer.

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s Foreign Ministry as saying Thursday that the North did not request to attend the event, which opens Sunday for seven-days.

The ministry’s statement comes after Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun quoted a source in Vladivostok as saying that a North Korean official visited the Russian city last month and conveyed to Moscow that his country wants to send a delegation to the APEC summit.