SEOUL, April 26 (Yonhap) -- The number of North Korean visitors to China increased 14 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, a report said Friday, indicating bilateral relations seemed undisturbed by U.N.-led sanctions on the hardscrabble country.

About 45,800 North Koreans traveled to China, the North's closest ally, in the January-March period, compared with 40,200 recorded in the same period in 2012, according to the report by the Washington-based Voice of America (VOA), which cited data from China.