SEOUL, April 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Wednesday rejected a request by South Korean businessmen to visit a jointly-run industrial complex in the North's border city of Kaesong to deliver food and check their facilities, Seoul's unification ministry said.

"Pyongyang has sent a notice that it can't agree to (the South Korean businessmen's visit to Kaesong)," the Ministry of Unification said. "It is very regrettable."

   Awaiting permission from the North, the 10 entrepreneurs representing owners of factories at the Kaesong industrial park, were at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) office in Paju, about 50 kilometers northwest of Seoul.