North Korea asked the South to limit the exposure to the press a visiting cultural delegation would face, Seoul’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) said on Monday.

“It can be understood in the context that North Korea wants to check facilities quietly and calmly, rather than the [South Korean] government making the decision,” unification ministry spokesperson Baik Tae-hyun told assembled media.

An MOU news briefing also saw Seoul say that the government, on Pyongyang’s request, had edited its footage of the North Korean preliminary inspection team’s visit on Sunday before providing it to media outlets, though it later retracted the comments.