North Korea cancelled a trip by the U.N. secretary-general to the reclusive state.

North Korea cancelled a trip by the U.N. secretary-general to the reclusive state, according to Ban Ki-moon himself on Wednesday.

Ban's announcement came just a day after he revealed his plan to visit the inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong this Thursday.

"Early this morning, North Korea suddenly informed us through a diplomatic channel that they are calling off the North Korean authorities' permission for my visit to the Kaesong Industrial Complex," Ban said as he addressed a digital forum in his home country of South Korea.

He insisted that Pyongyang offered no explanation, and he described the decision as "very regrettable" - as more than two decades have passed since a UN chief last visited North Korea.

It had been hoped that Ban’s trip to Kaesong would ease a wage dispute at the complex, where 124 South Korean firms hire around 53,000 North Korean workers.

Seoul ordered the companies not to issue paychecks for March, arguing that Pyongyang had broken an agreement by unilaterally hiking its workers’ wages by 5.18 percent.