A recent request to visit North Korea by Hyundai Asan officials has been rejected by the North, an official from the group told NK News on Thursday.

The subsidiary of the South Korean car company said they had received a fax from the DPRK side that a planned trip to hold a memorial service at the Mount Kumgang resort “would be difficult this time.”

“It’s an annual practice but we did not apply for this last year either, so there’s no special response or future plan from the company’s side,” Lee Jae-hee, a spokesperson for the company, told NK